Mark Out Loud - Santa Slam 2014

Steve Glosson and Dave Jones have a fantastic wrestling podcast called Mark Out Loud. In their Christmas episode, they discuss WWE's TLC 2014, Dave's recent trip to an indie show, and take calls from listeners.

Thanks to Steve and Dave for opening the phone lines, I was able to call in and talk with the guys for a while.  I call in at about 1:17:00 into the podcast, and we talk until about 1:42:39.  Afterwards, the podcast continues for about another hour and a half.

Mark Out Loud is also on Facebook and Twitter.

My Top Ten Favorite Wrestling Theme Songs

Growing up in the 80s, one of the many things that I loved was pro wrestling.  Being from the south, I enjoyed the southern style 'raslin.  Georgia Championship and Florida Championship were always fun to watch when they were on air.

By the mid-80s, the Jim Crockett Promotions NWA was my favorite outlet, but via Saturday Night's Main Event and eventually renting VHS tapes of the WWF PPVs, my brother and I became more familiar with WWF, now the WWE.

Wrestling theme songs have not always been important, but since the late 80s, theme songs or entrance music has been a very important part of the personas created in the squared circle.

I have compiled a top ten list of my favorite wrestling theme songs.

 1.  Ric Flair - "Also sprach Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss from 2001: A Space Odyssey

 2.  nWo - nWo Theme Song

 3.  ''Funkasaurus'' Brodus Clay - "Somebody Call My Mama"

 4.  Eddie Guerrero - "We Lie, We Cheat, We Steal"

 5.  CM Punk - "Cult of Personality" by Living Colour

 6.  The Rock - "If You Smell" Rock Theme Song

 7.  Shawn Michaels - “Sexy Boy” by Shawn Michaels

 8.  Jon Cena - "My Time is Now" by Jon Cena

 9.  “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan - “Voodoo Child” by Jimi Hendrix

10.  Road Warriors - "We are Ironman" cover of Black Sabbath song

Being nWo 4 Life is just 2 Sweet!

"When you're nWo, you're nWo 4 Life!" - WCW Monday Nitro in late 1996.

WCW had one of the most entertaining and longest running angles in professional wrestling/sports entertainment in the mid-90s with the New World Order (nWo).

Scott Hall was the first to invade WCW, and he appeared to be, at the time, on a mission from the WWF.  The next week Kevin Nash appeared on Nitro, and soon thereafter Hulk Hogan would turn his back on the fans and on WCW, to join the nWo at Bash at the Beach 1996.  Many fans returned to wrestling because of their unpredictable antics.  These three men, and their trademark gang style attacks, propelled the WCW to their highest TV ratings and to winning the "Monday Night War" for 84 consecutive weeks.

The nWo would eventually be watered down with too many wrestlers, and would be broken up into smaller factions with the Black & White nWo and the Red & Black nWo, aka "The Wolfpac."  Like all good things, eventually the nWo run came to an end.

The mishandling of the nWo story lines was probably a major factor in the downfall of WCW.  Two further attempts were made to revive the stable, once in WCW and once in WWE, after the WCW purchase.  Both attempts failed to capture the original magic.  Since this time the invasion gimmick has been copied on several occasions with the WCW/ECW invasion of WWE in 2001, The Nexus, Aces and Eights and The Shield.

Even with this baggage, the nWo remains a key moment in professional wrestling/sports entertainment.  Their story is chronicled, in the 2012 DVD and Blu-Ray release, nWo The Revolution, which is also appearing on the new WWE Network in an episode of "Beyond The Ring."