Tights and Fights

WWE’s Crown Jewel PLE is in the books– and we actually think that Perth Australia got a pretty solid show! Hal, Danielle and Julian discuss what they think worked:  Roman continuing his drama with the Bloodline was really compelling and something that we missed a lot; John Cena and AJ Styles had a great match acknowledging their collective decades of wrestling; and Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes pro...

This weekend is WWE’s Crown Jewel in Perth, Australia. It’s the rare edition of the event that isn’t taking place in front of a backwards murderous regime. So for now, the biggest drama is whether or not the ESPN app is finally ready to handle a WWE PLE… and if WWE can manage to turn around its recent string of pricing out its fanbase. The Main Event Maybe you're sitting there thinking that while...

Danielle and Lindsey are joined once again by our pal John Walsh, best known as Super Eyepatch Wolf on YouTube . It’s been a while since he joined us, so we’re excited to catch up. Plus we’ll discuss a bit more about WWE’s WrestlePalooza, AEW’s All Out and where the Big Business TKO version of WWE is falling short. The Main Event Well in the never ending parade of wrestling news from the last five...

Hal, Lindsey and Julian are back in the fold, ready to discuss Wrestlepalooza.  This was the first PLE that’s part of WWE’s partnership with ESPN. And just being able to watch the show presented difficulties for both us and a lot of other fans. Perhaps that could have been forgiven if the show was great– but we agree that it was middling at best. Very few surprises, matches with minimal builds and...

This episode originally aired in 2024.  Jamie Loftus is a huge fan of The Big Show, as she explained the last time she was on our show . In 1999, The Big Show was the WWF champion. In the storyline, his father had just died. And the man who really had a problem with it was the Big Boss Man; he interrupted the ten bell salute, read a poem making fun of him and was a general menace for a few weeks....

This interview was originally published in 2022. Hal, Danielle and Lindsey are joined once again by our pal RJ City . WrestleMania 38 featured a surprising amount of celebrities in major matches on the card. This continues a proud tradition in wrestling of bringing famous people on to have a good time and hopefully bring new eyes on the shows. RJ will tell us about some of his favorite celebrities...

This interview was originally published in February. Hal and Danielle are joined by former WWE Champion Ettore “ Big E ” Ewen. It’s been some time since we’ve seen him in a wrestling ring. But he’s stayed extremely busy: You can catch him on the Peacock series “Laid” and on Netflix’s “WWE RAW Classics.” Hosted by Hal Lublin and Danielle Radford Produced by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.  The musi...

Hal, Danielle and Lindsey are shocked to see WWE’s partnership with ESPN manifest itself VERY early. Wrestlepalooza will air live at the end of September from Indianapolis. But there are a lot of issues revealing themselves in the modern WWE streaming portals– Lindsey will explain that no matter how much you’re paying for Netflix, you’re still dealing with ads. The Main Event: Hollywood reporter p...

Hal and Danielle are joined by Denise Winkelman . A former wrestler and current comedian, she tells us about some of the stories about getting trained to be a “Mad Scientist" character. Plus, we’ll learn more about some of the big names she’s worked with as well as the… interesting financial advice she was given early on. Plus, did Naomi just deliver the greatest pregnancy announcement of all time...

Say it ain't so… Naomi was not medically cleared to perform last Monday Night on RAW. With the caveat that we don’t know the reasoning yet, we rampantly worry about what the future holds for her and the World Championship. Plus we’ve got some fun things to discuss about the current state of the World Heavyweight and WWE Championships as the scene for both titles continues to grow. Also, a breakdow...

It was the first ever two night Summerslam event in history. And it was marred in controversy for booking decisions and real-life implications: The most striking is that for the first time in recent memory, WWE publicly acknowledged Donald Trump on its show. The relationship between the company and some of its executives (including Paul Levesque) isn’t surprising– but there have been those who say...

We had some major late-breaking news that necessitated coverage: the death of Hulk Hogan. Most outlets have focused on his status as a high profile figure of wrestling and pop culture. But for many, he’s remembered as a man whose racist opinions were recorded and published; in addition to being a liar who made false claims to support his own narrative. Danielle and producer Julian deliver some qui...

Take a deep breath because with all of the wrestling from last weekend you have little time to rest before SummerSlam. After so many wrestling shows, we have so much to get through and unfortunately it’s not all good news: Adam Cole was pulled from AEW All In for an injury that was severe enough that he considered immediate retirement. And Seth Rollins has apparently hurt his knee again– thus upen...

It’s an absolutely massive weekend of wrestling! Who can say if anyone will actually be able to watch it all? Danielle and Julian first tell Hal about their experience at AEW Dynamite 300, where they saw tons of matches and moments and tried not to block the aisle for picture time. Then the team will dive into the first crop of shows and how they plan to watch: NXT’s Great American Bash, AEW’s All...

It’s the origin of our love story with AEW’s RJ City— recorded all the way back in 2019! This pre-dates his brief stint in WWE, his time with AEW and so much more; he was just a humble indie wrestling comedian making coffee in his underwear.  RJ tells us all about what it’s like to be a triple threat in the world of entertainment, the cross-section of comedy and what he actually thinks would help...

Our beloved RJ City has finally returned to the podcast! He’s been an AEW broadcaster and personality for years now. He’ll tell us how the company has changed since his start.  RJ will also explain how he and Toni Storm collaborated to create the “Timeless” character (hint: It was almost entirely here), the balance of freedom and structure that AEW has to straddle and why he thinks fans of the com...

Hal Lublin makes his triumphant return and finally gets the chance to share what’s been on his mind. Specifically, the state of the World Heavyweight Championship. Has WWE effectively capitalized on Jey Uso’s popularity? And is Gunther the right person to hold the World Title in Goldberg’s presumed retirement match? Plus, with King and Queen of the Ring well underway, we continue to advocate for J...

What a complete emotional whiplash after last week! Money in the Bank was a fine PLE that delivered some great highlights; not the least of which is Naomi as the brand new Ms. Money in the Bank! Plus, R-Truth made his short-awaited return, and has redefined himself as Ron Killings.  We geek out about some of these great developments and look ahead to who we think would be a great Queen and King of...

It’s time for another big wrestling weekend!  We give a full preview to Saturday’s “Worlds Collide” and Sunday’s “Money in the Bank” shows from WWE. But as we pick winners and what we expect to see… we can’t help but wonder if WWE has overplayed its hand and delivered TOO many shows.  Main Event: R-Truth is no longer in WWE R-Truth is no longer a WWE superstar. He's one of the most beloved members...

Saturday Night’s Main Event was the start of an incredibly busy wrestling Summer. There wasn’t much in terms of titles exchanging hands, but we did see the return of Bronson Reed for Seth Rollins’ unnamed stable. Plus Cody Rhodes is back! And he set up a Money in the Bank match with him and Jey Uso vs. John Cena and Logan Paul. Rerun: The Rock’s Entrance Music In 2017, we broke down all of The Roc...

Our beloved Open Mike Eagle rejoins the Tights and Fights family! Of course Mike’s still busy watching a lot of wrestling. And because of that, he’s noticed a number of shortcomings in WWE, specifically in the main event scene. He’ll explain. Plus, he’ll tell us more about what he thinks is missing from the John Cena heel turn and why he’s so optimistic about Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman’s connect...

Backlash is often regarded as the come-down show for WWE. There’s plenty to criticize; why is Gunther taking on Pat McAfee on his road back to the World Heavyweight Championship picture? And why is WWE intent on protecting Pat McAfee as an in-ring performer? Let’s not let that completely distract from the fun moments: Danielle gets to squee about Jeff Cobb fka Monster Matanza in her dearly departe...

Backlash weekend is upon us! Five matches doesn’t inherently make for a light card, but there it is a problem when one of those matches features Pat McAfee. Between that, the women’s tag title scene and maybe a few other things, there’s reason for pessimism in WWE. But there’s also a lot to enjoy– just take a look at Chelsea Green who hasn’t let her title loss diminish her character in any way. Ho...

We’ve barely had time to breathe after WrestleMania but on we go to Backlash.  There haven’t been many matches announced, but things look really solid so far: Becky Lynch will go after Lyra Valkyria’s Intercontinental Title and Drew McIntyre and LA Knight will go after Jacob Fatu’s U.S. Title.  And speaking of the U.S. Title— let’s mourn Chelsea Green’s championship run and hope that Zelina Vega c...

The biggest weekend in wrestling has come and gone; and all anyone wants to talk about is how disappointed they were by that main event between Cody Rhodes and John Cena.  And sure there’s disappointment between that, The Rock’s absence, and the Travis Scott of it all, there still was a lot of good too. New champions were crowned and we even had a really strong Monday Night RAW that could mean thi...