Squared Circle Pit

This is an amazing edition of Squared Circle Pit as we have guitarist Nita Strauss on the show to discuss her incredible performance at WWE WrestleMania 34 with Shinsuke Nakamura. Nita talks all about how the whole thing got set up, her interactions with Shinsuke, Vince McMahon and Michael Hayes the day of the show. Nita also discusses how she got into pro wrestling, some of her favorite matches,...

Neurosis' Scott Kelly & The Atlas Moth’s Stavros Giannopoulos return to the Squared Circle Pit to preview the biggest event of the year – this weekend's WrestleMania, which features Ronda Rousey, Kurt Angle, Daniel Bryan – a completely stacked card. We go through all the matches and get predictions from both Stavros and Scott and some hot takes on what some of the endings to th...

One of the guests I knew I wanted to get on the show when I started the podcast two years ago was Bubba Ray Dudley. Bubba is a proud metalhead, with his favorite bands being AC/DC, Motley Crue, Guns N Roses, Metallica, etc. Bubba talks about going to shows as a kid in New York City, what other wrestlers he has a group chat about metal with, the origins of the table as a weapon in wrestling, how bo...

Did you know that Dethklok co-creator Tommy Blacha also was a writer for WWE (then WWF) between 1999 and 2001? I was delighted that he took some time out of his busy schedule to talk about me about his experiences in the WWF when he worked there. Tommy talks about landing the job, taking over for Vince Russo, the Triple H/Stephanie McMahon wedding storyline, delivering Mae Young's hand, the a...

I have a huge guest on this edition of Squared Circle Pit, Eric Bischoff – the guy who ran the show in WCW during its heyday. We talk about licensing music for the nWo, what the conclusion of the nWo angle was supposed to be, working with KISS, his plans for the WCW Big Bang PPV that wasn't and we get really deep into why it's so hard to get television clearance for a wrestling com...

In a very special episode of the show, Rob talks to The Nobodies (Ariel Italic, Lady Bearica Andrews and DJ Accident Report). They have a Youtube review show. Rob talks to them about how they got into wrestling, how the idea to do a show about drag queens reviewing wrestling came about, the connection between drag and wrestling, and drag and metal & punk, queer wrestling fans and more. If you&...

Skeletonwitch frontman Adam Clemans steps into the pit, and Adam and I spend a good chunk of the show going through all of the matches of NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12. Adam also talks about how he got into pro wrestling, watching on the road, and friends in the metal scene who he enjoys watching with. Check out previous Squared Circle Pit interviews about wrestling with Slipknot's Corey Taylor , C...

Our guest is from across the pond on this edition of Squared Circle Pit – we talk to David Lo Pan, a compose who has scored tons of music for independent pro wrestlers including War Machine, Drew Galloway, Bram, Joe Coffey and more. David talks about his process for creating a song, some of his favorite classic entrance themes, watching WWF and WCW during the Monday Night Wars and anticipati...

When I first started this podcast, one guest I knew I had to get on here is the epitome of the intersection between metal and wrestling – Chris Jericho. The conversation start with discussing how to be successful, how to go out and achieve your dreams. We also talk about the new Fozzy album, Judas, and their whirlwind promotional tour for the album. We talk about Chris' prolific podcasting ca...

We're back with a great guest on this episode. The Atlas Moth's Stavros Giannopoulos talks about his life long love of pro wrestling, how his attending WrestleMania VI got him signed to his first label deal, his current feelings on his childhood idol Hulk Hogan, being backstage at a recent WWE event and seeing two wrestlers work out a match and some New Japan stuff. Rob also briefly disc...

This week's guest is a long-requested guest on Squared Circle Pit – Landphil Hall, who you may know from his work with Municipal Waste, Iron Reagan and of course Cannabis Corpse. Landphil talks about attending both NXT Takeover and Summerslam last weekend, which type of wrestling shows he prefers to go to, his first live wrestling show ever, ECW, Andy Kaufman and more. All of LandPhil's...

This podcast is all about the intersection of heavy metal and pro wrestling, and Ladybeard is the perfect representation of that (sprinkled in with a little cross-dressing and J-pop.) In this incredibly insightful episode, Ladybeard talks about his journey from disovering heavy metal and watching pro wrestling at a young age to eventually finding himself training at the only wrestling school in Ho...

One of the biggest stars of New Japan Pro Wrestling is my guest on the Squared Circle Pit this week, "The Cleaner" Kenny Omega. Omega is one of the most hyped wrestlers in the world right now, so I'm eternally grateful that he made some time to talk about his favorite power metal bands, namely Blind Guardian and Stratovarius. This interview occured on the morning of the first day of...

Two dudes I've wanted to get on the Squared Circle Pit are the two guests on my show this episode: Aniz Ansari and Kyle, the dude behind my favorite Instagram, @selfies_food_and_pets . We kick off the episode talking about the North Carolina metal scene, grindcore, and metal fandom in general. Aniz talks about seeing early Between the Buried and Me shows and Kyle talks about how he needs to g...

On this edition, I talked to former WWE announcer Justin Roberts, who was the main ring announcer for WWE for about 10 years. Justin talks about his time in WWE, the backstage grind, how he found his way in to WWE and his new book, Best Seat in the House: Your Backstage Pass through My WWE Journey . Justin is currently working with TOOL hosting their VIP experiences, and we discuss how that came a...

I'm so excited to finally have my friend Arda Ocal on the show. Arda is a lifelong metal and pro wrestling fan, and we discuss his fandom journey in both recreations and also his incredible journey from intern at a Canadian cable channel to a full-time WWE announcer. Arda shares some great stories from his time at WWE and also offers some top-notch advice for people looking to make it as an a...

There were a lot of laughs between myself and this episode's guest, Jordan, aka Gwarsenio Hall from Two Minutes to Late Night. Jordan talks about how he got into wrestling through watching RuPaul's Drag Race, the similarities between drag and wrestling, his favorite wrestlers, the Undertaker, we talk about the Superstar Shakedown and what Jordan likes in a finisher. Check out previous Sq...

This is a very special edition of our metal-meets-wrestling podcast, Squared Circle Pit, where I welcome my Metal Injection Livecast co-hosts 3D and Noa to recap the biggest wrestling event of the year, WWE WrestleMania. We all watched the show together at Darren's house, and after every match, we paused the show to give our thoughts on what happened. If you dig what you hear, let us know if...

I'm trying something different on the new edition of the Squared Circle Pit. With WrestleMania this weekend, I wanted to invite two of my favorite all-time guests back on the show to talk predictions. First up, I catch up with Killswitch Engage's Mike D., who just got on the road with Anthrax, to talk his predictions. Then, I talked to Andy Williams of Every Time I Die about everything g...

On this edition, I interview 19-year pro wrestling veteran Frankie Kazarian – Frankie has been in WWE, TNA and now is a member of the Bullet Club in Ring of Honor. Frankie talks about training with Killer Kowalski, the controversy with his hair in WWE, the downfall of TNA, teaming with Christopher Daniels and ROH's 15th anniversary PPV this Friday. Frankie also talks about his favorite...

I'm really excited to get 3TEETH frontman Alexis Mincolla on the show this week. Alexis talks about getting back into wrestling after going on tour with TOOL, and broing down with Adam Jones about it. He talks about going to recent PWG shows and the recent RAW in LA where he got to meet the Rock. Alexis also shares stories of trying to bring pro wrestling attitude to his high school wrestling...

I'm back after a short hiatus of traveling with an all new Squared Circle Pit. This week I talk to Metal Hammer editor Merl Alderslade, who was one of the early pioneers of the WrestleMetal connection, an inspiration for this very podcast. We talk about Metal Hammer's past dealing with wrestlers, how he got Dave Mustaine to award Triple H the Metal Hammer "Spirit of Lemmy" awar...

He's from Winnipeg, you idiot! We have KEN Mode frontman Jesse Matthewson on the Squared Circle Pit this week. We spend a lot of time talking about the Monday Night Wars, what Raw and Nitro did well, and what they failed at. We talk about keeping up with the frenetic pace of wrestling nowadays, and some of Jesse's favorite matches. Check out previous Squared Circle Pit interviews about w...

Jami from Code Orange has been watching wrestling since birth. Jami shares his knowledge of WWE, NXT, New Japan and more. We talk about Jami's favorite wrestlers, why John Cena doesn't suck, his thoughts on how MMA is doing "sports entertainment" better than WWE and more. A great convo about rasslin! Check out previous Squared Circle Pit interviews about wrestling with Slipknot...

My special guest on the latest edition of Squared Circle Pit is Oscar Dronjak, guitarist of Swedish heavy metal band Hammerfall. Oscar has been a wrestling fan most of his life and discusses how he got into pro wrestling, with limited availability in his home country of Sweden. Oscar talks about some of his favorite wrestlers, what he enjoys about wrestling and he shares some great tales from gett...