Awesome Truth: A Wrestling Book Club

He did it! Somewhat out of nowhere, in Saudi Arabia, at a second-tier PLE, Sami Zayn won the world title. To celebrate, or at least check out the video evidence, we're watching along with Night of Champions 2026 and (hopefully) enjoying the triple threat between Zayn, Gunther, and now-former champ Cody Rhodes.

It's finally time to talk about the Hulkster's Netflix doc.  Hulk Hogan: Real American is a very high-profile look at the life, times, and death of a pro wrestling legend; it's also executive produced by Paul "Triple H" Levesque, so how scathing can it be? Does this 4-part series capture the lowest lows of the formerly beloved superstar? Does it need to be 4 parts, or is it overstuffed to appease...

Yes, sigh, it's Hulk Month on Awesome Truth. That's what happens when Netflix releases an exclusive 4-part documentary on the life, times, and utter bullsh*t of the Hulkster. To gear up for discussing that series next episode, we're revisiting arguably Hogan's greatest match: his showdown with the Rock at WrestleMania X8. Is it as good as we remember? Of course it is. Join us as we watch along wit...

To end our short run talking about Shawn Michaels and begin our short run talking about (sigh) Hulk Hogan, we're watching along with their "classic" match at SummerSlam 2005. It's remembered as the night when HBK made Hogan look terrible by overselling everything, but is that reputation fair? And is the match any good? Join us and find out.

Despite mostly moving their content to Netflix and ESPN, WWE is still putting out documentaries on Peacock. Their latest entry,  The  Heartbreak  Kid:  Becoming  Shawn  Michaels , is a full feature-length look at Mr. WrestleMania. Do we need another HBK documentary? Is his latest turn as head of NXT worth diving into? Join us for one more journey through the career of this all-time legend, from th...

Now that WrestleMania 42 has entered the history books with a resounding "meh," it's time to revisit the already maligned Night 1 main event from this year's show: Cody Rhodes versus Randy Orton. It could've been the easiest feud to book in history; instead, they made it about Pat McAfee. Was the match as boring as everyone claims? Watch along as we find out.

How would you rank the top 50 WrestleMania matches of all time? Pageantry, work rate, legacy, recency? WWE has taken a crack at this very project with a YouTube playlist , led by Undertaker versus Shawn Michaels from WrestleMania 25 and featuring (surprisingly) very few long boring Triple H matches. Did they do a good job? What stood out as smart and what was overrated? Join us as we tackle our fi...

With WrestleMania 42 only weeks away, we decided to travel very briefly back in time and get a preview of this year's premier match (plus Seth Rollins). That's right, we're watching the Night 1 main event from WrestleMania 41: CM Punk versus Roman Reigns vs "The Architect" himself. Most people said it was the high point of a particularly dreary Mania weekend; do we agree? Join us and find out!

Sometimes YouTube recommends videos and sometimes Walt clicks on them, and that's how we ended up watching The Epic Story of The Shield, a wrestling documentary from the good people at Spotfight. What is Spotfight? How do their wrestling documentaries stand up to the dozens of WWE docs we've watched for this show? And did we learn anything new about Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and the man formerly...

To celebrate ElimChamb week, the most thrilling week of the wrestling season, we're revisiting one of the best matches in the history of the event: The Wyatt Family versus The Shield. It's from way back in 2014, when Bluetista was getting booed, Jack Swagger was still a thing, and these 6 guys were lighting the world on fire. Not to mention, you may be shocked by who ends up eating the pin. Join u...

Now that AJ Styles has ridden off into the sunset, temporarily or otherwise, we felt it was time to revisit a classic WWE Network documentary on The Phenomenal One. The years 2017 and 2018 were fascinating ones for Styles, from an incredible match with Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series to a very disappointing title defense against Shinksuke Nakamura at WrestleMania. Join us as we watch the  WWE 365...

Hot on the heels of reading Keith Elliot Greenberg's This Book Is All Elite , we're giving AEW an official Awesome Truth performance review. How has the company evolved from 2019 to today? How do the so-called Four Pillars hold up in 2026? Spoiler alert: Sammy Guevara is not quite pillar-y these days. Join us as we discuss the peaks and valleys of All Elite Wrestling.

Welcome to 2026! With Royal Rumble season right around the corner, we're watching a very famous Rumble singles match: The Rock versus Mankind for the WWE championship at the 1999 Royal Rumble. This is the infamous I Quit match that ends with a dozen chairshots right to Mick Foley's unprotected head; it's a tough one to revisit but also a reminder of how good Dwayne was at playing a total asshole h...

Happy holidays from Awesome Truth! We are currently on Christmas vacation so please enjoy this classic episode from January 2024, an in-depth discussion of the very depressing feature film The Iron Claw .

It's somehow been 6 years since AEW opened its doors, which means its time to chronicle the company's dramatic rise in book form. And there's no better man to do it than Keith Elliot Greenberg, author of  This Book Is All Elite: The Inside Story of All Elite Wrestling . It's full of photos and stories that document how Tony Khan and a handful of truly elite wrestlers formed the first viable altern...

I don't think anyone expected Braun Strowman to go from "pro wrestling goliath" to "food show host," but here we are! Strowman's new USA show, Everything on the Menu With Braun Strowman , has been a surprise hit for the beefy former WWE star and may end up being a solid second career. But is it any good? And are the tie-ins with wrestling even remotely organic? Join us as we follow Braun around Wa...

We all know November is Survivor Series month, so we're harkening back to when this event was truly about surviving: 1990, when the babyface and heel survivors of each match met in the main event. That meant Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, and Tito Santana (!) versus the all-star squad of Ted DiBiase, Rick Martel, The Warlord, Hercules, and Paul Roma. Sound like trouble for our all-star superheroes?...

You knew we'd get to it eventually: It's time to review Dwayne Johnson's Oscar play, the 2025 film The Smashing Machine . How does Rock do as UFC original Mark Kerr? Is he finally showing off some dormant acting chops, or is he just playing another big fighter guy with slightly more emotion? And is this MMA movie actually an MMA movie at all?

As John Cena's very bumpy retirement tour nears its conclusion, WWE did the smartest thing since re-turning him babyface: They booked a match with AJ Styles. Cena vs AJ is quietly one of the best rivalries of the last 10 years, and it's exactly the kind of showdown Cena should be having as he sails off into the sunset. Join us as we rewatch this finisher-heavy instant classic (kinda) from Crown Je...

We promised (or threatened) it and now it's here: Stephanie McMonth concludes with our first-ever Stephanie McMahon watch-along. It was tough to choose from all the exquisite Stephanie matches, but we finally found a hidden gem: Stephanie and Triple H versus Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 34. This is Ronda's debut, when hope was everywhere and a beautiful future seemed right around th...

With Stephanie McMahon announced as the next major inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame, there's no better time to sit back and review her ESPN+ show, Stephanie's Places . We totally planned this, you guys. Join us as we discuss Stephanie's latest foray as a WWE-adjacent personality and examine her first guest, Phil "CM Punk" Brooks.

With WrestlingPalooza right around the corner, it was time to revisit the most iconic showdown between Brock Lesnar and John Cena: SummerSlam 2014. Everyone expected your usual main event between two beefy legends, but instead we got a squash for the ages. Join us as we discuss this famous match and also speculate wildly about Cena's mediocre retirement tour.

Once Raw hit Netflix, you knew a documentary series couldn't be far behind. And now it's here: WWE Unreal , an intimate and up-close look at the inner workings of WWE. They'd have you believe it's unprecedented; we think there is tons of precedent, including dozens of backstage docs that previously aired on the WWE Network and Peacock. So is  Unreal worth a watch, especially with the ho-hum year t...

To "honor" the late Hulk Hogan, we decided to watch the most Hogan match in history: the Hulkster (and Randy Savage) versus 8 guys in a Doomsday Cage match at Uncensored 1996. That's right, to satisfy Hulk's massive ego, WCW put him up against Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, actor Tiny Lister, and professional beefy boy "Jeep" Swenson (amongst others) and ... he won. How did it all go down? Wa...

It's true; my boy Terry has passed away. Hulk Hogan was pro wrestling's first megastar and arguably its most controversial; he couldn't give up the spotlight and loved to lie, the quintessential carny until the day he died. We've talked about him for hours and hours on this show, and we're gonna do it one more time. Join us as we discuss the life and legacy of the Hulkster.