It’s Royal Rumble weekend and on a new Wrestling Weekly, Les Thatcher and Vic Sosa make their picks for the big singles matches and speculate on who might show up for the men’s and women’s Rumble matches.
Additionally, they look at the AEW debut of Tommaso Ciampa and a big win for Andrade with another big match against Kenny Omega on the way.
They also spend some time talking about the late Kim Wood whose history in wrestling, football and the fitness industry is nothing short of remarkable.
Dave previews Saturday’s show which is debuting in Saudi Arabia including both the men’s and women’s Rumble matches and the AJ Styles vs. Gunther match with big implications for Styles if he loses.
He also recaps last week’s Saturday Night’s Main Event with his usual ratings.
Dave looks at the UFC debut on Paramount+ last weekend, writes the obituary for the influential Kim Wood who passed away this week, and news & results from WWE, AEW, CMLL, AAA, NJPW and the rest of the pro wrestling world.
With Wednesday’s news of the passing of Kim Wood, mentor to Brian Pillman and the first-ever full-time NFL strength coach, the following is Dave Meltzer and Garrett Gonzales’ two hour talk with Wood from a 2021 edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.
The following is free for anyone to listen to and is available here, Spotify or Apple Pods.
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Original description:
Dave Meltzer and Garrett Gonzales are back with Wrestling Observer Radio, and joining us is Kim Wood to talk about Brian Pillman and the Dark Side of the Ring season opener.
Kim talks about his participation in the episode and then he and Dave go into old stories about Pillman. Kim gives his thoughts on who were the strongest interviews from the episode as well as Eric Bischoff’s participation.
Kim talks about his interest in conmen and his history with pro wrestling. They talk about their memories from the wake and funeral for Pillman. Kim even brings up stories about Dave from many years ago.
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including Dave’s memories of the late Kim Wood and the role he played in one of the great angles of the mid-90s, Royal Rumble notes, ratings, UFC news, full results from Dynamite and NXT, and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps: Start: Kim Wood passes away 27:28: WWE Royal Rumble notes 34:29: Ratings, wrestling ad rates 48:44: AEW Dynamite report 1:07:30: WWE NXT report
Kim Wood, mentor to the late Brian Pillman and longtime strength coach for the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals, has passed away at the age of 80 after “a brief illness.”
The news was announced by the Bengals Wednesday night, noting he was the NFL’s first full-time strength coach. He worked in that capacity for 28 years.
He was also influential in the weight lifting and fitness world as noted by the Bengals’ story:
“Wood also emerged as a titan when weight training exploded in the late 1960s and early 1970s, first with Nautilus and then with his own company, Hammer Strength, a cutting-edge innovation overseeing the evolution of free weights to machines.”
For wrestling fans, he was the mentor to Pillman, then a special teams member of the Bengals. As documented by the Pillman-focused episode of Dark Side of the Ring that featured Wood prominently, he was a key figure in Pillman finding himself and his unique character.
“He made his mark in pro football as a trail-blazing strength coach. He made his mark in the strength world by forming Hammer Strength. And he made his mark in the pro wrestling world by guiding Brian Pillman into one of the most successful storylines of the 1990s that really changed pro wrestling with a blend of theatrics and reality that hadn’t been done before. What a testament,” former NFL reporter and current AEW employee Alex Marvez told Bengals.com.
Dave Meltzer wrote the following:
“The Cincinnati Bengals just announced the death of longtime strength coach Kim Wood at the age of 80. He was the mentor of many people, including myself, Alex Marvez, Brian Pillman, Anthony Munoz and countless others. This one hurts a lot. He was one of the inventors of the Hammer Strength exercise equipment line and a pioneer working for Arthur Jones in the Nautilus era. One of the strongest college football players of his era, great high school wrestler. Genius intellect.”
