Sitting Ringside with David Penzer

Bill Apter is one of the most famous and knowledgeable pro wrestling journalists and historian in the world. Getting his start back in 1969 on his radio show in New York City, he quickly became the go to journalists for several pro wrestlers and became a fixture at Pro Wrestling Illustrated. He was so closely associated with these publications, they quickly became known as the “Apter Mags” even though he wasn’t the owner nor the editor of these publications. This week, David Penzer is joined by Apter to discuss his career that spans over five decades in the wrestling business. Apter discusses his start in the business, how he learned to network and work his way into the business, how his love of Jerry Lewis helped him professionally, the evolution of the PWI 500 list, the passing of Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, and so many stories from his book, “Is Wrestling Fixed? (I Didn’t Know It Was Broken).” Then, David is joined by longtime ring announcer and promoter Dino Puglia. Penzer and Puglia were actually up for the WCW ring announcer position, with Penzer ultimately getting the job, but the two share some incredible stories about how all of it played out, Puglia’s WWF career, and more. Thanks for listening and don’t forget to subscribe and review the show on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher! Make sure to follow David Penzer, Mike Freland, and “Sitting Ringside” on Twitter! You can find the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

This week, David is joined by “The Disco Inferno” Glenn Gilbertti. You may know him from his time dancing his way to the ring in WCW or you know him as the co-host of one of wrestling’s most popular podcasts, “Keepin’ It 100,” with Konnan and Kevin Gill. Either way, you know he isn’t one to hold back his opinion on anything. During this great conversation, the two talk about the early days of his career, how he earned his Finance degree before he joined the pro wrestling ranks, the infamous Paul Orndorff/Vader brawl, Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo, comparisons of GFW’s Impact Zone in Orlando to WCW’s Center Stage venue in Atlanta, stupid gimmicks, becoming a booker, the difficulties of maintaining friendships in the wrestling business, the night he lost to Jacqueline and why he put her over, road stories, and so much more. Thanks for listening and don’t forget to subscribe and review the show on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher! Make sure to follow David Penzer, Mike Freland, and “Sitting Ringside” on Twitter! You can find the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

The name Gary Juster may not ring a bell with the casual wrestling fan but he is a guy that has had a hand in or been responsible for some of wrestling’s biggest angles and broadcasts. Whether it was coming up in the business under Verne Gagne and Nick Bockwinkel in the AWA, his days in the Crockett territory, working for WCW under Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff, or currently as the Vice President of Operations for Ring Of Honor, Juster has seen just about everything there is to see and yet he isn’t a household name. After discussing the big John Cena/Roman Reigns promo from this past Monday Night Raw with Mike Freland, David sits down with Juster (26:05) to discuss his entire career. He tells stories about the great Dusty Rhodes and the innovation of the “War Games” concept, how he knew the Crockett days were coming to an end, working with Jim Herd, Bill Watts, Eric Bischoff, Zane Bresloff, and the Monday Night Wars during his WCW days. He also talks about his current position with Ring Of Honor and their current product. David also tells the story of how Juster is responsible for giving him his first break in the wrestling business and then the two play word association about the likes of JJ Dillon, Bobby Heenan, Harley Race, Terry Funk, and finally, Vince McMahon. Thanks for listening and don’t forget to subscribe and review the show on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher! Make sure to follow David Penzer, Mike Freland, and “Sitting Ringside” on Twitter! You can find the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

In the late 1990’s, WCW’s Eric Bischoff was a huge fan of the video game series, “Mortal Kombat.” As a result, the characters Mortis, Wrath, and most famously Glacier were born. While Mortis and Wrath spawned the careers of Chris Canyon and Brian Clarke, Ray Lloyd never went on to bigger things in the wrestling business. The character, who was killed in WCW by wrestling’s “Reality Era” and the birth of the NWO, can still be seen on the Independent circuit though and is one of the most famous creations of WCW’s time, thanks in large part to the vignettes than ran featuring the catchphrase, “Blood Runs Cold.” This week, David sits down with Ray Lloyd to discuss one of the most fascinating journeys the wrestling business has ever seen. From his time growing up idolizing Jack and Gerry Brisco to graduating from Valdosta State University with a Masters degree and going into teaching, Lloyd is genuinely one of the good guys in an extremely insane industry. Lloyd also talks about his relationship with Diamond Dallas Page, the birth of the “Glacier” character and what his initial thoughts were, coming up in the business with guys like Buff Bagwell and Disco Inferno, his karate training, working under Dusty Rhodes following the demise of WCW, his new wrestling school called the One Fall Power Factory with QT Marshall, and so much more. Thanks for listening and don’t forget to subscribe and review the show on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher! Make sure to follow David Penzer, Mike Freland, and “Sitting Ringside” on Twitter! You can find the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

Billed as the XWF, the short lived Xcitement Wrestling Federation was launched in the early 2000’s. Coming off WWE’s purchase of WCW, they had signed the likes of Hulk Hogan, Buff Bagwell, Konnan, Vampiro, Christopher Daniels, Rey Misterio Jr., Curt Henning, Roddy Piper, and several others. The company had the star power to make a run at becoming something successful but it just never got it’s feet off the ground. One of the masterminds behind the XWF was “Nasty Boy” Brian Knobs. He joins David this week to tell the story of the XWF, who else was supposed to be involved in it (some of the names will surprise you), who the top face of the company was going to be, who from the front offices of WCW were signed to work behind the scenes, and what Hulk Hogan’s role was going to be. Also this week, David Penzer and Mike Freland flashback to March 27, 1996, which was the first night Scott Hall appeared on Monday Nitro. David says that in his opinion, it’s easily one of the top three moments in the history of Monday Nitro. The guys talk about everything that led up to Hall’s arrival, the lawsuit the WWE filed against WCW alleging WCW was using WWE’s intellectual property, the brilliance of WCW’s creative team for using the WWF’s “Scheme Gene/Nacho Man/Huckster” skits against the WWF to make people think Hall and Nash were really sent to destroy WCW. Thanks for listening and don’t forget to subscribe and review the show on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher! Make sure to follow David Penzer, Mike Freland, and “Sitting Ringside” on Twitter! You can find the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

Although former WCW manager Sonny Onoo’s career only lasted about four years, he’s probably best known for his time managing Ultimo Dragon, Kaz Hayashi, and Ernest “The Cat” Miller to several different championships during their day. He was in WCW and witnessed some of the company’s best days, including the infamous Monday Night Wars, and some of their worst as well. Following his release from WCW, Onoo sued AOL Time Warner for racial discrimination following comments made by then head writer Vince Russo and the tumultuous relationship they had. Russo made several inflammatory remarks publicly on “WCW Live,” the company’s old web broadcast, about the Mexican and Japanese wrestlers on the roster. That lawsuit was later settled out of court. What you may not have known about Onoo though is that his friendship with Eric Bischoff goes back to the 1970’s when Onoo was named the “Best Bantamweight Kickboxer In The World” by the Professional Karate Association and Bischoff played a pivotal role in bringing Onoo to the pro wrestling world. In this episode of “Sitting Ringside,” David Penzer chats with his old friend about that lawsuit, his time in WCW where he worked a bit behind the scenes as a liaison between WCW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, the development of the NWO, his relationship with Ultimo Dragon, how Scott Hall’s first appearance on WCW television changed the pro wrestling game forever, his kickboxing career before wrestling, his longtime friendship with Eric Bischoff, and so much more. Thanks for listening and don’t forget to subscribe and review the show on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher! Make sure to follow David Penzer, Mike Freland, and “Sitting Ringside” on Twitter! You can find the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

“The Blueprint” Matt Morgan is easily one of the most interesting stories in all of pro wrestling. As David puts it, his career was almost backwards. Morgan started out in the WWE back in 2002 on “Tough Enough” and debuted on Smackdown in 2003 but is most well known for his run in TNA from 2007 to 2014. During his TNA run, he was a two time TNA Tag Time Champion, once with Hernandez and once with Crimson. He and David sit down for an hour to talk about his college basketball career, how he got started in the business, his “Tough Enough” experience, working with Jim Cornette in OVW, who created the stuttering gimmick he had during his WWE run, how he ended up in TNA, his feud with the “Main Event Mafia,” Vince Russo, and so much more. Morgan also shares an incredibly personal story about what former TNA Wrestling president Dixie Carter did for his family that will never be forgotten. It’s a story that you have to hear to believe. Thanks for listening and don’t forget to subscribe and review the show on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher! Make sure to follow David Penzer, Mike Freland, and “Sitting Ringside” on Twitter! You can find the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

Kevin Sullivan is easily one of the top ten most influential people in the history of pro wrestling and is one of the guys that David has spent the most time with over the years. Between last week and this week, Kevin discusses his entire career from his in ring action for Jim Crockett Promotions to booking World Championship Wrestling during the “Monday Night Wars.” This week, Kevin discusses his transition from the Jim Crockett Promotion to WCW, how Eric Bischoff landed the “Executive Producer” title with WCW, the evolution of Monday Nitro, the political reason the Dungeon Of Doom was created and how it played a role in Hulk Hogan joining the NWO, the Vince Russo Era of WCW, David Arquette, Goldberg, Chris Benoit personally and in the ring, WWE buying WCW, and so much more. If you’ve never had the pleasure of listening to Kevin Sullivan, he’s also one of the greatest storytellers of all time. If you enjoyed this week’s episode, make sure to go back and listen to part one of this interview where Kevin discusses the early part of his career. Also, make sure to check out Kevin’s podcast, MSL & Sullivan, on MLW Radio! Thanks for listening and don’t forget to subscribe and review the show on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher! Make sure to follow David Penzer, Mike Freland, and “Sitting Ringside” on Twitter! You can find the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

Kevin Sullivan is easily one of the top ten most influential people in the history of pro wrestling and is one of the guys that David has spent the most time with over the years. Over the next two weeks, Kevin discusses his entire career from his in ring action for Jim Crockett Promotions to booking World Championship Wrestling during the “Monday Night Wars.” This week, Kevin discusses the early part of his life going back to his roots in Boston, MA where he was a high school wrestler to what got him into the pro wrestling game. He talks about his time wrestling for Florida Championship Wrestling with the Grahams in the early 1970’s, working with legendary promoter Roy Shire in San Francisco, learning the ins and outs of booking from Vince McMahon Sr., the historic angle between he and ally Austin Idol against The Fabulous Freebirds in the NWA, his first run as a heel in Memphis against the likes of Jerry Lawler and Wayne Ferris (aka The Honky Tonk Man), why he always hated the term “the devil” when people described his character in Florida, and so much more. The great thing about Kevin is when he talks about things he’s done and angles he’s been a part of, he explains the psychology and the thought behind every single step of the process that went into every single step to the payoff. If you’ve never had the pleasure of listening to Kevin Sullivan, he’s also one of the greatest storytellers of all time. If you enjoyed this week’s episode, next week he talks about the “Monday Night Wars,” booking in WCW, how the “Dungeon Of Doom” faction in WCW led to Hulk Hogan to joining the NWO, The Four Horsemen, and so much more. Also, make sure to check out Kevin’s podcast, MSL & Sullivan, on MLW Radio! Thanks for listening and don’t forget to subscribe and review the show on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher! Make sure to follow David Penzer, Mike Freland, and “Sitting Ringside” on Twitter! You can find the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

This week is something David hopes to bring to you as often as possible. The Impact Wrestling television tapings just wrapped up at Universal Studios Orlando and they were gracious enough to allow David full access to chat with whomever was around in between pre-tapes. This show is a fun one as David is joined by legendary referee Earl Hebner (who said off mic that in spite of being invited by Steve Austin to do his podcast, this was the first podcast appearance he’d ever made an appearance on. Take that, Stone Cold! We kid, we kid.), wrestler and Fox News contributor Tyrus, wrestling legend and fellow podcast host Konnan, and the Chief Creative Officer of Impact Wrestling Jeff Jarrett, who as everyone knows, founded the company back in 2002. Though David didn’t have a ton of time with each, Hebner discussed in detail the events of the Montreal Screwjob from his perspective; Tyrus talks about how his relationship with Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld came to be; Konnan talks the last days of WCW and his podcast, “Keepin’ It 100“; and Jeff Jarrett talks the history of TNA, Impact, and GFW, the real reason for his departure from the company a few years ago, and how his return came to be. David hopes to do shows like this more often from the Impact Wrestling tapings and both Jeff Jarrett and Konnan promised to give him more time at next month’s television tapings because more stories have to be told between these guys. Thanks again to Impact Wrestling for being so hospitable and gracious enough to allow us the opportunity to record the podcast on site. Thanks for listening and don’t forget to subscribe and review the show on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher! Make sure to follow David Penzer, Mike Freland, and “Sitting Ringside” on Twitter! You can find the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

This week is the first of David’s “Behind The Spotlight” episodes of “Sitting Ringside” as he is joined by former WCW and WWE referee Nick Patrick. Nick is a guy that many may not realize is a second generation star in the business. His father is the legendary “Masked Assassin” Jody Hamilton. Nick talks about growing up around the business because of his father, when he started in the business, why he gave up actually wrestling to become a referee, transitioning from the territory days to WCW and then to the WWE, the Monday Night Wars, and so much more. Also, for the first time publicly, Nick tells his side of the story to the controversial ending to the Starrcade ’97 main event between Hulk Hogan and Sting. Was it a fast count? Was it not a fast count? What was Nick told to do and by whom? Finally, David and Mike Freland discuss the first ever Monday Nitro on this week’s episode of “Sitting Ringside!” Thanks for listening and don’t forget to subscribe and review the show on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher! Make sure to follow David Penzer, Mike Freland, and “Sitting Ringside” on Twitter! You can find the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

What can you expect from Sitting Ringside? As David himself put it, he’s just a wrestling fan that was fortunate enough to live out his dream and see some of the biggest stories and angles in wrestling history from a perspective that very few can. He’s doing this podcast to share his stories, the stories of some of the biggest names in pro wrestling, and more importantly to him, bring the stories of a lot of the people behind the spotlight front and center in a way that’s never been done before. On this his first episode, David chats with longtime WWE ring announcer Justin Roberts. Justin was with the WWE for 12 years and lived both the good and the bad side of the business in his time with the company. His new book, “Best Seat In The House,” chronicles his journey as a ring announcer and has made some waves within the business in light of the current situation between Mauro Ranallo and the WWE. The guys discuss the book, share a ton of stories about the differences between WWE and David’s time at WCW, Vince McMahon, Connor’s Cure, the Chris Benoit tragedy through both the eyes of a good friend of Benoit’s (David) and the WWE side of things (Roberts) and how things played out that tragic ten years ago this past weekend, and so much more. Thanks for listening and don’t forget to subscribe and review the show on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher! Make sure to follow David Penzer, Mike Freland, and “Sitting Ringside” on Twitter! You can find the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Google Play!

Radio Influence is very pleased to welcome “SITTING RINGSIDE WITH DAVID PENZER,” hosted by longtime pro wrestling personality David Penzer and Mike Freland, beginning June 26, 2017. Each week, Penzer and Freland will be joined by the biggest stars of the pro wrestling industry and more importantly to Penzer, a visit behind the spotlight with some of the people that you may not know from being on the camera but were vitally important to some of the biggest pro wrestling angles, events, and broadcasts. Penzer entered the pro wrestling industry in 1988 as a ring announcer in South Florida for the Global Wrestling Alliance until he joined Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling in 1993. He remained in WCW as a ring announcer, producer, and in talent relations through the historic “Monday Night Wars” until the company was sold in 2001. Since then, Penzer has worked for the XWF, done tours of Australia with the World Wrestling All Stars, and been a ring announcer for TNA Wrestling. Right now, he works as the Logistic Director for The Legends Of Wrestling promotion, a Special Assignment Correspondent on “The Hannibal TV” on YouTube, and is currently the ring announcer for Anthem Sports’ “Impact Wrestling,” which can be seen every Thursday night at 8p EST on Pop TV. “I am eager to start this project and offer wrestling fans a new spin on the usual wrestling podcast,” Penzer said. “I’ll bring my unique experiences from Sitting Ringside for nearly 30 years and stories from some of the amazing people I’ve met along the way. I look forward to teaming with the guys at Radio Influence to bring wrestling fans something very special.” “When I was approached by Dave with the concept of Sitting Ringside, I thought it was great,” said Jerry Petuck, CEO of Radio Influence. “I know it’s very important to Dave, not only to bring the household names of pro wrestling to his listeners, but to also honor the guys behind the scenes who never get the credit they deserve and bring their voices and stories to the forefront as well.” “SITTING RINGSIDE WITH DAVID PENZER” will debut Monday, June 26, 2017 on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, Google Play, and RadioInfluence.com. The Radio Influence family of shows include a variety of both terrestrial radio hosts and established internet providing a great mix and different perspectives on sports, entertainment, lifestyle, and more. All programs can be found on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Radio Influence.com. For more information, contact Jerry Petuck at Petuck@radioinfluence.com