Matt Rehwoldt

You hear that, Josh? I'm a professional, man.

You hear that, Josh? I'm a professional, man.

I am on air. I've always been a bad guy.

I am on air. I've always been a bad guy.

Fun fact. It's a little bit of a trope. It's not 100% true. But in wrestling, often the bad guys are usually the nicest guys behind the scene. I have heard that as well. Bad guys are often very giving, right? Because you usually have to get beat in the end. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Fun fact. It's a little bit of a trope. It's not 100% true. But in wrestling, often the bad guys are usually the nicest guys behind the scene. I have heard that as well. Bad guys are often very giving, right? Because you usually have to get beat in the end. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Look, this is Rastafari. It's an aesthetic business. It's a TV business. It's about looking the part, too. That's right.

Look, this is Rastafari. It's an aesthetic business. It's a TV business. It's about looking the part, too. That's right.

How about that? Yeah, there you go. That's what I was going to say.

How about that? Yeah, there you go. That's what I was going to say.

Oh, man. The endurance. The endurance to continually throw, I'm going to assume, full barrels down. Oh, yeah. Constantly. Over and over and over. As long as it takes for you to climb that stuff up.

Oh, man. The endurance. The endurance to continually throw, I'm going to assume, full barrels down. Oh, yeah. Constantly. Over and over and over. As long as it takes for you to climb that stuff up.

So round two, we've got our leader in place. Again, I'm thinking of this in terms of that. We've got a leader, someone to command you, someone to corral everybody. Now we've got to fill out the ranks. And every team, especially if you've got those four slots, you need a powerhouse. You need that big... Guy who's willing to throw some meat around. You know what I mean?

So round two, we've got our leader in place. Again, I'm thinking of this in terms of that. We've got a leader, someone to command you, someone to corral everybody. Now we've got to fill out the ranks. And every team, especially if you've got those four slots, you need a powerhouse. You need that big... Guy who's willing to throw some meat around. You know what I mean?

Matt, how you doing today, buddy? I'm doing fantastic. I've been looking forward to this. We were just saying even before this, we've gone back and forth online, but our first time actually finally getting to chat and everything like that. And it's great. I'm really excited.

Matt, how you doing today, buddy? I'm doing fantastic. I've been looking forward to this. We were just saying even before this, we've gone back and forth online, but our first time actually finally getting to chat and everything like that. And it's great. I'm really excited.

And so I do have my kind of pick of the litter here, but you know what? I'm going in a totally, totally offbeat direction. I'm skipping past my first three. I'm looking at them right now. I'm skipping past all of those because I want to shake things up. Anybody remember a little game called Katamari? Katamari? Oh, my goodness. And there is an unexpected powerhouse in Katamari.

And so I do have my kind of pick of the litter here, but you know what? I'm going in a totally, totally offbeat direction. I'm skipping past my first three. I'm looking at them right now. I'm skipping past all of those because I want to shake things up. Anybody remember a little game called Katamari? Katamari? Oh, my goodness. And there is an unexpected powerhouse in Katamari.

The prince, the key character, who can literally roll entire objects into mountains, into countries, into planets together to form a giant ball if needed. He can literally combine celestial bodies to use as a rolling pin and weapon. He can combine all of that, and I can only imagine how unstoppable that level of power Compaction? Whatever you want to call it. Whatever it would be.

The prince, the key character, who can literally roll entire objects into mountains, into countries, into planets together to form a giant ball if needed. He can literally combine celestial bodies to use as a rolling pin and weapon. He can combine all of that, and I can only imagine how unstoppable that level of power Compaction? Whatever you want to call it. Whatever it would be.

I mean, he would just get a ball rolling. He could just steamroll the entire other team. So while on the outside, on the surface, seems like a little itty bitty like Spritely character turns into a gigantic powerhouse to steamroll the competition.

I mean, he would just get a ball rolling. He could just steamroll the entire other team. So while on the outside, on the surface, seems like a little itty bitty like Spritely character turns into a gigantic powerhouse to steamroll the competition.

I played a little bit of it.

I played a little bit of it.

I think it's a little bit more, like, amorphous. Just feel free. It's kind of just, like, it's less of a, like, good versus bad story of more of just, like, a mechanical, I mean, type of thing. So since he's the protagonist, I kind of took him as, like, the good guy of the thing. He doesn't have any moral twinge bad. Bad moral, you know. Okay. So I'm going to take him.

I think it's a little bit more, like, amorphous. Just feel free. It's kind of just, like, it's less of a, like, good versus bad story of more of just, like, a mechanical, I mean, type of thing. So since he's the protagonist, I kind of took him as, like, the good guy of the thing. He doesn't have any moral twinge bad. Bad moral, you know. Okay. So I'm going to take him.

Yeah, so roll those three up together and you're already off to a good start. Thank you for making my point for me.

Yeah, so roll those three up together and you're already off to a good start. Thank you for making my point for me.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You would have to stop him before he gets on a roll.

You would have to stop him before he gets on a roll.

That's true too. I'd have to make sure he goes fast. That's true. Yeah.

That's true too. I'd have to make sure he goes fast. That's true. Yeah.

How many submissions could you get on with four arms like that? A lot, dude. You need a lot going on there.

How many submissions could you get on with four arms like that? A lot, dude. You need a lot going on there.

If I just knock his fat butt out of that little flying machine, he's done. No. What is he without his little...

If I just knock his fat butt out of that little flying machine, he's done. No. What is he without his little...

Matt, what do you got, man? All right. So, again, now I've got my leader. I've got my powerhouse, unconventional as he may be. But now, to fill out the team, you need someone who's a little bit of a juxtaposition to that.

Matt, what do you got, man? All right. So, again, now I've got my leader. I've got my powerhouse, unconventional as he may be. But now, to fill out the team, you need someone who's a little bit of a juxtaposition to that.

You need a finesser, you know, someone who's a little bit maybe more of the athletic side, someone akin to, like, the luchador role, the high flyer kind of thing, to complement the power of your powerhouse. And, man, I've got a couple of choices here. I'm trying to think. Of what I want to do. You know what? I'm going to go. Who is a good. I don't think they fit. I'm going to move on.

You need a finesser, you know, someone who's a little bit maybe more of the athletic side, someone akin to, like, the luchador role, the high flyer kind of thing, to complement the power of your powerhouse. And, man, I've got a couple of choices here. I'm trying to think. Of what I want to do. You know what? I'm going to go. Who is a good. I don't think they fit. I'm going to move on.

Who is a good. Sneaky. Still strong. Incredibly athletic. Has the power to, like, be stealthy, but also, when necessary, chop a tank in half. I am going from the one who started off in his original Metal Gear Solid appearance as a little bit of a surprise and unexpected lead, but turned into quite the powerhouse in Metal Gear Rising. I'm going with Raiden.

Who is a good. Sneaky. Still strong. Incredibly athletic. Has the power to, like, be stealthy, but also, when necessary, chop a tank in half. I am going from the one who started off in his original Metal Gear Solid appearance as a little bit of a surprise and unexpected lead, but turned into quite the powerhouse in Metal Gear Rising. I'm going with Raiden.

The ultimate cyborg-netic ninja who's just going to be flipping, flopping, swinging swords around. Non-lethal swords for our wrestling audience. Training swords. Yeah, right? The foam swords or whatever, yeah. But yeah, he's got enough power in there to do it, but he's super sneaky and athletic and just a dangerous opponent.

The ultimate cyborg-netic ninja who's just going to be flipping, flopping, swinging swords around. Non-lethal swords for our wrestling audience. Training swords. Yeah, right? The foam swords or whatever, yeah. But yeah, he's got enough power in there to do it, but he's super sneaky and athletic and just a dangerous opponent.

Fun fact, I used to work with a guy who was basically the real-life WWE version of Zangief, which is a guy named Rusev. His name's Miro, but he's Bulgarian. He's big. He wears almost very similar trunks. He's a super funny guy, by the way, but was just that big bear of a man and had that accent and everything like that. He was awesome. Yeah.

Fun fact, I used to work with a guy who was basically the real-life WWE version of Zangief, which is a guy named Rusev. His name's Miro, but he's Bulgarian. He's big. He wears almost very similar trunks. He's a super funny guy, by the way, but was just that big bear of a man and had that accent and everything like that. He was awesome. Yeah.

Google, can I find some characters with holy water or something? I was going to say, Matt's Googling, who are the angels in Diablo?

Google, can I find some characters with holy water or something? I was going to say, Matt's Googling, who are the angels in Diablo?

We're all against you now.

We're all against you now.

Yeah. I mean, it goes back a ways, man. I mean, I'm not in as in the weeds as some, but a lot more than others. Uh, especially I'm an OG PlayStation guy through and through. And then I've been a PC guy ever since, uh, 2020 and just gone off the rails in that department. PC master race or life.

Yeah. I mean, it goes back a ways, man. I mean, I'm not in as in the weeds as some, but a lot more than others. Uh, especially I'm an OG PlayStation guy through and through. And then I've been a PC guy ever since, uh, 2020 and just gone off the rails in that department. PC master race or life.

That's right. All right, Matt, we're back to you. All right. So I'm going to round out my wrestling team here. And again, I'm going to go on a different route that I think a lot of people expect. And because again, when I'm putting a match together, I want to tell a compelling story.

That's right. All right, Matt, we're back to you. All right. So I'm going to round out my wrestling team here. And again, I'm going to go on a different route that I think a lot of people expect. And because again, when I'm putting a match together, I want to tell a compelling story.

And unfortunately, one of those things as part of being on the good guy team is there's a point in every match where one of the good guys gets beat up. It's called the heat of the match. But you need a good, sympathetic baby face that the people want to clap and see make the big tag to the rest of your team to turn the whole matchup around. So you need somebody, people just, they care about.

And unfortunately, one of those things as part of being on the good guy team is there's a point in every match where one of the good guys gets beat up. It's called the heat of the match. But you need a good, sympathetic baby face that the people want to clap and see make the big tag to the rest of your team to turn the whole matchup around. So you need somebody, people just, they care about.

They know can withstand it, but they're going to go through some trouble, right? You know what I mean? But they have the will to get there, to get back to their corner and make the tag. And so there's a couple of really good ones, but I think... Sometimes you can just go with an obvious choice.

They know can withstand it, but they're going to go through some trouble, right? You know what I mean? But they have the will to get there, to get back to their corner and make the tag. And so there's a couple of really good ones, but I think... Sometimes you can just go with an obvious choice.

Someone who's been through a lot, but made it through, suffered, suffered, suffered, and is just somebody I think we all feel for when we play the game. I feel for this guy already, man. I want him to get there. Well, it's not a guy. It's the very brave, young, but tempestuous Ellie from The Last of Us. I mean, can you imagine? I mean, she's tough. She's spunky.

Someone who's been through a lot, but made it through, suffered, suffered, suffered, and is just somebody I think we all feel for when we play the game. I feel for this guy already, man. I want him to get there. Well, it's not a guy. It's the very brave, young, but tempestuous Ellie from The Last of Us. I mean, can you imagine? I mean, she's tough. She's spunky.

But, like, if she's in there getting beat up by Diablo, you horrible, horrible person, Josh. Diablo's in there beating up Ellie.

But, like, if she's in there getting beat up by Diablo, you horrible, horrible person, Josh. Diablo's in there beating up Ellie.

It's Diablo. That's his, like, M.O., man. You said it up, bro.

It's Diablo. That's his, like, M.O., man. You said it up, bro.

Waiting, waiting for that big hot tag to master chief for somebody to help turn it around. So that is my underdog heartfelt baby face final pick for the wrestler portion of my team. Cause I love it.

Waiting, waiting for that big hot tag to master chief for somebody to help turn it around. So that is my underdog heartfelt baby face final pick for the wrestler portion of my team. Cause I love it.

All of a sudden, Diablo's a germaphobe. He's just like, I'm not touching her.

All of a sudden, Diablo's a germaphobe. He's just like, I'm not touching her.

Tags back out to Kratos.

Tags back out to Kratos.

That's true. That's true. Life is shaded gray.

That's true. That's true. Life is shaded gray.

I just wanted to see you scramble. Not that my righteous, holier-than-thou babyface team would ever do this, but if you were up against a team like Josh's, I mean, what would stop them from maybe snatching one of your little sisters up and holding them in front of you? And now... the human shield of the little sister. I don't, that kind of renders big daddy.

I just wanted to see you scramble. Not that my righteous, holier-than-thou babyface team would ever do this, but if you were up against a team like Josh's, I mean, what would stop them from maybe snatching one of your little sisters up and holding them in front of you? And now... the human shield of the little sister. I don't, that kind of renders big daddy.

Yeah, it was. When I first got into streaming is when I was introduced to it because I was like, all right, I think it's a better setup for that and everything like that. So I got one and I was like... But as someone who's literally, I'd never touched a PC for a video game, more or less, it's always been a controller between Nintendo and then PlayStation.

Yeah, it was. When I first got into streaming is when I was introduced to it because I was like, all right, I think it's a better setup for that and everything like that. So I got one and I was like... But as someone who's literally, I'd never touched a PC for a video game, more or less, it's always been a controller between Nintendo and then PlayStation.

All right. I can't. I can't even. Kudos for bringing up the very topical, very recent change. If you've been paying attention to the wrestling world.

All right. I can't. I can't even. Kudos for bringing up the very topical, very recent change. If you've been paying attention to the wrestling world.

that's true you know okay an actual yeah current wrestler all around and i didn't expect that one man that's a good pick ryan so fair enough all right matt last pick buddy all right gotta close it out it is manager time now i my list is like all over the place Uh, cause I'm like, what do I want in a manager? Do you want just like heartfelt, just encouragement? Do you want something off the wall?

that's true you know okay an actual yeah current wrestler all around and i didn't expect that one man that's a good pick ryan so fair enough all right matt last pick buddy all right gotta close it out it is manager time now i my list is like all over the place Uh, cause I'm like, what do I want in a manager? Do you want just like heartfelt, just encouragement? Do you want something off the wall?

Do you want something just really aggressive, someone really aggressive, whatever it is. And like, I got choices again, cause I'm the good guys here. So I'm going to do another kind of off the wall pick. and I'm gonna go with someone who's a bit of a wild card himself. You know what I mean? He's unpredictable. Again, he's not the roughest, toughest.

Do you want something just really aggressive, someone really aggressive, whatever it is. And like, I got choices again, cause I'm the good guys here. So I'm going to do another kind of off the wall pick. and I'm gonna go with someone who's a bit of a wild card himself. You know what I mean? He's unpredictable. Again, he's not the roughest, toughest.

I mean, he's a little rough around the edges, but I mean, you could probably beat him in a fight if you had to, but he would absolutely distract you, confuse you. discombobulate you at certain times if necessary, depending on how many drugs he's had that day. I am talking about everyone's favorite addict and wild man from Grand Theft Auto 5, Trevor Phillips, watching our back. Lovable Trevor.

I mean, he's a little rough around the edges, but I mean, you could probably beat him in a fight if you had to, but he would absolutely distract you, confuse you. discombobulate you at certain times if necessary, depending on how many drugs he's had that day. I am talking about everyone's favorite addict and wild man from Grand Theft Auto 5, Trevor Phillips, watching our back. Lovable Trevor.

He would just be the wild card on the outside. That's the best manager ever. Just running around in his dirty underwear. Wait, look over here. Look over here, man. Whatever it is. Yes, he would just do whatever it takes to draw the attention to him.

He would just be the wild card on the outside. That's the best manager ever. Just running around in his dirty underwear. Wait, look over here. Look over here, man. Whatever it is. Yes, he would just do whatever it takes to draw the attention to him.

Keyboard and mouse, like, was so disorienting. The first time I played a shooter, I was like, how do you do this? Within a year, it's the opposite. I went back to try to play an FPS on a controller and I was like, how do you do this without as much control as you have with a mouse and everything? It's wild.

Keyboard and mouse, like, was so disorienting. The first time I played a shooter, I was like, how do you do this? Within a year, it's the opposite. I went back to try to play an FPS on a controller and I was like, how do you do this without as much control as you have with a mouse and everything? It's wild.

He's smart, slick, and rich. He could be almost like a million-dollar man style character just paying everybody off. Oh, yeah. You don't know. You don't know if the ref's in your corner or not on this match.

He's smart, slick, and rich. He could be almost like a million-dollar man style character just paying everybody off. Oh, yeah. You don't know. You don't know if the ref's in your corner or not on this match.

Lord knows he could fund the training.

Lord knows he could fund the training.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Can I ask gentlemen, can I ask, were there any like a notable mentions or like honorable mentions you wanted to throw out from your team that didn't make the, didn't make your list?

Can I ask gentlemen, can I ask, were there any like a notable mentions or like honorable mentions you wanted to throw out from your team that didn't make the, didn't make your list?

Do you have any backups? Yeah. For my powerhouse, Doomguy was one of mine. For the finesser, I almost decided to go with Agent 47. Ooh. Because he could just put on the popcorn guy's outfit and walk right past the enemy team and trip them up without them knowing and just switch disguises or something.

Do you have any backups? Yeah. For my powerhouse, Doomguy was one of mine. For the finesser, I almost decided to go with Agent 47. Ooh. Because he could just put on the popcorn guy's outfit and walk right past the enemy team and trip them up without them knowing and just switch disguises or something.

Could have been a good manager, too.

Could have been a good manager, too.

Is he a good guy, though? I mean, I guess that's debatable. He's the protagonist. I don't know if you... Yeah, good is probably... little shaky there.

Is he a good guy, though? I mean, I guess that's debatable. He's the protagonist. I don't know if you... Yeah, good is probably... little shaky there.

Um, I was going to, for my sympathetic baby face, I was going to maybe go with Arthur Morgan, of course. Yeah. Or Princess Zelda herself.

Um, I was going to, for my sympathetic baby face, I was going to maybe go with Arthur Morgan, of course. Yeah. Or Princess Zelda herself.

And then my other manager was going to be more clearly dog meat.

And then my other manager was going to be more clearly dog meat.

Whatever, dude. I know.

Whatever, dude. I know.

They're just so goofy and so much fun.

They're just so goofy and so much fun.

Absolutely. This is something I was looking forward to. Again, like all the people say in your guys' reviews, it's all true. And then some, it's hard to find people who just talk about this hobby and everything positively, but not like...

Absolutely. This is something I was looking forward to. Again, like all the people say in your guys' reviews, it's all true. And then some, it's hard to find people who just talk about this hobby and everything positively, but not like...

uselessly positively like you still critique you still honest i appreciate that but like just coming at it from a really place of love for the the hobby and the appreciation of it which in this world today there's not nearly enough of and especially in our social media sphere so like just sort of here i try to do very similar things because honestly it's the same thing we see it honestly we do yeah that's one reason we get along so well

uselessly positively like you still critique you still honest i appreciate that but like just coming at it from a really place of love for the the hobby and the appreciation of it which in this world today there's not nearly enough of and especially in our social media sphere so like just sort of here i try to do very similar things because honestly it's the same thing we see it honestly we do yeah that's one reason we get along so well

That toxicness I try to avoid. I go, look, we've got enough of that. Let's talk about why we love this stuff. And so I totally connect with you guys on that. And I've very much been looking forward to this. So thank you for having me.

That toxicness I try to avoid. I go, look, we've got enough of that. Let's talk about why we love this stuff. And so I totally connect with you guys on that. And I've very much been looking forward to this. So thank you for having me.

Sure. Yeah. No. So if you are into the wrestling scene at all, when we made this podcast, there are –

Sure. Yeah. No. So if you are into the wrestling scene at all, when we made this podcast, there are –

tons of wrestling podcasts all about like just who's good and who's bad and people again just arguing arguing arguing but we're like we love this and we wanted to put it about the storytelling that the shows are doing each and every week not the backstage politics not whose contracts expiring and not the inside baseball stuff even though i work inside the industry we wanted to keep it more focused on like oh this character like oh john cena's heel turn

tons of wrestling podcasts all about like just who's good and who's bad and people again just arguing arguing arguing but we're like we love this and we wanted to put it about the storytelling that the shows are doing each and every week not the backstage politics not whose contracts expiring and not the inside baseball stuff even though i work inside the industry we wanted to keep it more focused on like oh this character like oh john cena's heel turn

narrative beats and like oh is this story working is it not working do these characters work for all the major promotions so it is called rebooked it is on youtube and all the podcast platforms it's myself uh golden boy alex mendez who works a lot in esports as well as our friend um jake who is a writer and producer in los angeles so uh yeah rebooked wrestling podcast look that up absolutely everywhere and uh come join us each and every week

narrative beats and like oh is this story working is it not working do these characters work for all the major promotions so it is called rebooked it is on youtube and all the podcast platforms it's myself uh golden boy alex mendez who works a lot in esports as well as our friend um jake who is a writer and producer in los angeles so uh yeah rebooked wrestling podcast look that up absolutely everywhere and uh come join us each and every week

If I ever have to drive anything, a spaceship, a car, oh, mousing keyboard is rough sometimes.

If I ever have to drive anything, a spaceship, a car, oh, mousing keyboard is rough sometimes.

It's really cool. The nicest thing I ever, like, I don't care anything about, like, me personally, but the nicest thing you ever see in those streams, and I've seen it in other streamers' stuff too, is when people come in and they're like, oh, man, either I haven't played this in a while or I haven't played this before, but now I really want to. Like that's like the greatest compliment.

It's really cool. The nicest thing I ever, like, I don't care anything about, like, me personally, but the nicest thing you ever see in those streams, and I've seen it in other streamers' stuff too, is when people come in and they're like, oh, man, either I haven't played this in a while or I haven't played this before, but now I really want to. Like that's like the greatest compliment.

I don't care what you think about me personally, but if that environment is being shouted out to you, then that mission accomplished.

I don't care what you think about me personally, but if that environment is being shouted out to you, then that mission accomplished.

Starfield, I remember I was spinning around about 15 times before I got my bearings.

Starfield, I remember I was spinning around about 15 times before I got my bearings.

So one of the few ground rules that we laid, because we wanted it to be open. I didn't want to limit it too much. But if you do watch wrestling, if you don't, you know it's very theatrical, kind of physical storytelling and stuff like that. And we often will have what we call a baby face and a heel, a good guy and a bad guy. It's pretty classic, conniving bad guys and righteous good guys.

So one of the few ground rules that we laid, because we wanted it to be open. I didn't want to limit it too much. But if you do watch wrestling, if you don't, you know it's very theatrical, kind of physical storytelling and stuff like that. And we often will have what we call a baby face and a heel, a good guy and a bad guy. It's pretty classic, conniving bad guys and righteous good guys.

It's very old school, but I'm like, you know what? I think that should be a rule that if you decide to go one way, you got to stick with that because in wrestling, very few, if ever you see teams, especially these large teams where it would be like one heel, two baby bases, another heel, it's usually all good guys versus all bad guys.

It's very old school, but I'm like, you know what? I think that should be a rule that if you decide to go one way, you got to stick with that because in wrestling, very few, if ever you see teams, especially these large teams where it would be like one heel, two baby bases, another heel, it's usually all good guys versus all bad guys.

So one ground rule was whatever way you decided to go, everybody on your team had to be like an antagonist, a villain, a bad guy, or on the opposite, a good guy, a hero, et cetera. All right.

So one ground rule was whatever way you decided to go, everybody on your team had to be like an antagonist, a villain, a bad guy, or on the opposite, a good guy, a hero, et cetera. All right.

He's been stomped by a short Italian plumber a lot for a large mythical being. But okay. Yeah. You do you, Ryan. You do you.

He's been stomped by a short Italian plumber a lot for a large mythical being. But okay. Yeah. You do you, Ryan. You do you.

That is true. Yeah. Maybe there's more strategy to this than we thought. Yeah. Yeah.

That is true. Yeah. Maybe there's more strategy to this than we thought. Yeah. Yeah.

That's all you get.

That's all you get.

It's the drama king himself, Matt Rehwoldt. Hello. Hello, hello, hello. And hey, Ryan, you know what? Don't feel bad. Kicking out at one is a sign of strong style. It is very respected. You know, you don't sit down for that two count and everything. No, you're right up at one. So that's good.

It's the drama king himself, Matt Rehwoldt. Hello. Hello, hello, hello. And hey, Ryan, you know what? Don't feel bad. Kicking out at one is a sign of strong style. It is very respected. You know, you don't sit down for that two count and everything. No, you're right up at one. So that's good.

Like, what am I not thinking about here? So, I'm curious how this is going to go for me. I don't really know. Because I think about, again, coming from this actual business and doing this for a living, I think of it very differently. So, I didn't want to think of this as just a kid picking up his four biggest toys. and smashing them together, and whatever's the biggest, strongest.

Like, what am I not thinking about here? So, I'm curious how this is going to go for me. I don't really know. Because I think about, again, coming from this actual business and doing this for a living, I think of it very differently. So, I didn't want to think of this as just a kid picking up his four biggest toys. and smashing them together, and whatever's the biggest, strongest.

I wanted to have a little bit more thought process, because that's what we do in our business. We tell stories. We're trying to weave a tapestry here as much as we can. So, with that in mind, I will start off with every good team needs a leader. Because you're getting a ragtag group of people together.

I wanted to have a little bit more thought process, because that's what we do in our business. We tell stories. We're trying to weave a tapestry here as much as we can. So, with that in mind, I will start off with every good team needs a leader. Because you're getting a ragtag group of people together.

You need somebody who can kind of unite people, lead them into battle, kind of like corral everyone, improve morale, and lead. Because there are some powerful people and characters in video games who are not good at working with others. So I took that into consideration.

You need somebody who can kind of unite people, lead them into battle, kind of like corral everyone, improve morale, and lead. Because there are some powerful people and characters in video games who are not good at working with others. So I took that into consideration.

So I have a couple, but I think, since I'm starting off the top here, I think it's hard to pick a better leader, warrior, to take you into battle than John 117 himself, the Master Chief. He's big. He's powerful, towering over you in that power armor. And I mean, if there's anybody you're going to get to rally behind, a group of people, strangers or no. You know what I mean?

So I have a couple, but I think, since I'm starting off the top here, I think it's hard to pick a better leader, warrior, to take you into battle than John 117 himself, the Master Chief. He's big. He's powerful, towering over you in that power armor. And I mean, if there's anybody you're going to get to rally behind, a group of people, strangers or no. You know what I mean?

He's got Cortana popping out, spitting advice to everybody too. You know what I mean? Calculating the odds of absolutely everything.

He's got Cortana popping out, spitting advice to everybody too. You know what I mean? Calculating the odds of absolutely everything.

I know. I'm like, I want to join your team. I want to wrestle. That's right. That's right. So I believe Master Chief is somebody everybody on that team would lay down their very soul for if necessary.

I know. I'm like, I want to join your team. I want to wrestle. That's right. That's right. So I believe Master Chief is somebody everybody on that team would lay down their very soul for if necessary.

No. No, no, no. I'm doing, for what it's worth, I'm doing manager last. I have my reasons for each pick, so I'm starting with the leader, kind of like the team captain, if you will.

No. No, no, no. I'm doing, for what it's worth, I'm doing manager last. I have my reasons for each pick, so I'm starting with the leader, kind of like the team captain, if you will.

Finishing the spot. Yeah.

Finishing the spot. Yeah.

I think I read one of the books. I actually read one or two of the Halo books. Didn't they say something like two tons or something like that? What? It was something ridiculous because they were like seven feet tall and the armor was like 700 pounds or something. I don't know.

I think I read one of the books. I actually read one or two of the Halo books. Didn't they say something like two tons or something like that? What? It was something ridiculous because they were like seven feet tall and the armor was like 700 pounds or something. I don't know.

You hear that, Josh? I'm a professional, man.

I am on air. I've always been a bad guy.

Fun fact. It's a little bit of a trope. It's not 100% true. But in wrestling, often the bad guys are usually the nicest guys behind the scene. I have heard that as well. Bad guys are often very giving, right? Because you usually have to get beat in the end. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Look, this is Rastafari. It's an aesthetic business. It's a TV business. It's about looking the part, too. That's right.

How about that? Yeah, there you go. That's what I was going to say.

Oh, man. The endurance. The endurance to continually throw, I'm going to assume, full barrels down. Oh, yeah. Constantly. Over and over and over. As long as it takes for you to climb that stuff up.

So round two, we've got our leader in place. Again, I'm thinking of this in terms of that. We've got a leader, someone to command you, someone to corral everybody. Now we've got to fill out the ranks. And every team, especially if you've got those four slots, you need a powerhouse. You need that big... Guy who's willing to throw some meat around. You know what I mean?

Matt, how you doing today, buddy? I'm doing fantastic. I've been looking forward to this. We were just saying even before this, we've gone back and forth online, but our first time actually finally getting to chat and everything like that. And it's great. I'm really excited.

And so I do have my kind of pick of the litter here, but you know what? I'm going in a totally, totally offbeat direction. I'm skipping past my first three. I'm looking at them right now. I'm skipping past all of those because I want to shake things up. Anybody remember a little game called Katamari? Katamari? Oh, my goodness. And there is an unexpected powerhouse in Katamari.

The prince, the key character, who can literally roll entire objects into mountains, into countries, into planets together to form a giant ball if needed. He can literally combine celestial bodies to use as a rolling pin and weapon. He can combine all of that, and I can only imagine how unstoppable that level of power Compaction? Whatever you want to call it. Whatever it would be.

I mean, he would just get a ball rolling. He could just steamroll the entire other team. So while on the outside, on the surface, seems like a little itty bitty like Spritely character turns into a gigantic powerhouse to steamroll the competition.

I played a little bit of it.

I think it's a little bit more, like, amorphous. Just feel free. It's kind of just, like, it's less of a, like, good versus bad story of more of just, like, a mechanical, I mean, type of thing. So since he's the protagonist, I kind of took him as, like, the good guy of the thing. He doesn't have any moral twinge bad. Bad moral, you know. Okay. So I'm going to take him.

Yeah, so roll those three up together and you're already off to a good start. Thank you for making my point for me.

Yeah.

You would have to stop him before he gets on a roll.

That's true too. I'd have to make sure he goes fast. That's true. Yeah.

How many submissions could you get on with four arms like that? A lot, dude. You need a lot going on there.

If I just knock his fat butt out of that little flying machine, he's done. No. What is he without his little...

Matt, what do you got, man? All right. So, again, now I've got my leader. I've got my powerhouse, unconventional as he may be. But now, to fill out the team, you need someone who's a little bit of a juxtaposition to that.

You need a finesser, you know, someone who's a little bit maybe more of the athletic side, someone akin to, like, the luchador role, the high flyer kind of thing, to complement the power of your powerhouse. And, man, I've got a couple of choices here. I'm trying to think. Of what I want to do. You know what? I'm going to go. Who is a good. I don't think they fit. I'm going to move on.

Who is a good. Sneaky. Still strong. Incredibly athletic. Has the power to, like, be stealthy, but also, when necessary, chop a tank in half. I am going from the one who started off in his original Metal Gear Solid appearance as a little bit of a surprise and unexpected lead, but turned into quite the powerhouse in Metal Gear Rising. I'm going with Raiden.

The ultimate cyborg-netic ninja who's just going to be flipping, flopping, swinging swords around. Non-lethal swords for our wrestling audience. Training swords. Yeah, right? The foam swords or whatever, yeah. But yeah, he's got enough power in there to do it, but he's super sneaky and athletic and just a dangerous opponent.

Fun fact, I used to work with a guy who was basically the real-life WWE version of Zangief, which is a guy named Rusev. His name's Miro, but he's Bulgarian. He's big. He wears almost very similar trunks. He's a super funny guy, by the way, but was just that big bear of a man and had that accent and everything like that. He was awesome. Yeah.

Google, can I find some characters with holy water or something? I was going to say, Matt's Googling, who are the angels in Diablo?

We're all against you now.

Yeah. I mean, it goes back a ways, man. I mean, I'm not in as in the weeds as some, but a lot more than others. Uh, especially I'm an OG PlayStation guy through and through. And then I've been a PC guy ever since, uh, 2020 and just gone off the rails in that department. PC master race or life.

That's right. All right, Matt, we're back to you. All right. So I'm going to round out my wrestling team here. And again, I'm going to go on a different route that I think a lot of people expect. And because again, when I'm putting a match together, I want to tell a compelling story.

And unfortunately, one of those things as part of being on the good guy team is there's a point in every match where one of the good guys gets beat up. It's called the heat of the match. But you need a good, sympathetic baby face that the people want to clap and see make the big tag to the rest of your team to turn the whole matchup around. So you need somebody, people just, they care about.

They know can withstand it, but they're going to go through some trouble, right? You know what I mean? But they have the will to get there, to get back to their corner and make the tag. And so there's a couple of really good ones, but I think... Sometimes you can just go with an obvious choice.

Someone who's been through a lot, but made it through, suffered, suffered, suffered, and is just somebody I think we all feel for when we play the game. I feel for this guy already, man. I want him to get there. Well, it's not a guy. It's the very brave, young, but tempestuous Ellie from The Last of Us. I mean, can you imagine? I mean, she's tough. She's spunky.

But, like, if she's in there getting beat up by Diablo, you horrible, horrible person, Josh. Diablo's in there beating up Ellie.

It's Diablo. That's his, like, M.O., man. You said it up, bro.

Waiting, waiting for that big hot tag to master chief for somebody to help turn it around. So that is my underdog heartfelt baby face final pick for the wrestler portion of my team. Cause I love it.

All of a sudden, Diablo's a germaphobe. He's just like, I'm not touching her.

Tags back out to Kratos.

That's true. That's true. Life is shaded gray.

I just wanted to see you scramble. Not that my righteous, holier-than-thou babyface team would ever do this, but if you were up against a team like Josh's, I mean, what would stop them from maybe snatching one of your little sisters up and holding them in front of you? And now... the human shield of the little sister. I don't, that kind of renders big daddy.

Yeah, it was. When I first got into streaming is when I was introduced to it because I was like, all right, I think it's a better setup for that and everything like that. So I got one and I was like... But as someone who's literally, I'd never touched a PC for a video game, more or less, it's always been a controller between Nintendo and then PlayStation.

All right. I can't. I can't even. Kudos for bringing up the very topical, very recent change. If you've been paying attention to the wrestling world.

that's true you know okay an actual yeah current wrestler all around and i didn't expect that one man that's a good pick ryan so fair enough all right matt last pick buddy all right gotta close it out it is manager time now i my list is like all over the place Uh, cause I'm like, what do I want in a manager? Do you want just like heartfelt, just encouragement? Do you want something off the wall?

Do you want something just really aggressive, someone really aggressive, whatever it is. And like, I got choices again, cause I'm the good guys here. So I'm going to do another kind of off the wall pick. and I'm gonna go with someone who's a bit of a wild card himself. You know what I mean? He's unpredictable. Again, he's not the roughest, toughest.

I mean, he's a little rough around the edges, but I mean, you could probably beat him in a fight if you had to, but he would absolutely distract you, confuse you. discombobulate you at certain times if necessary, depending on how many drugs he's had that day. I am talking about everyone's favorite addict and wild man from Grand Theft Auto 5, Trevor Phillips, watching our back. Lovable Trevor.

He would just be the wild card on the outside. That's the best manager ever. Just running around in his dirty underwear. Wait, look over here. Look over here, man. Whatever it is. Yes, he would just do whatever it takes to draw the attention to him.

Keyboard and mouse, like, was so disorienting. The first time I played a shooter, I was like, how do you do this? Within a year, it's the opposite. I went back to try to play an FPS on a controller and I was like, how do you do this without as much control as you have with a mouse and everything? It's wild.

He's smart, slick, and rich. He could be almost like a million-dollar man style character just paying everybody off. Oh, yeah. You don't know. You don't know if the ref's in your corner or not on this match.

Lord knows he could fund the training.

Exactly.

Can I ask gentlemen, can I ask, were there any like a notable mentions or like honorable mentions you wanted to throw out from your team that didn't make the, didn't make your list?

Do you have any backups? Yeah. For my powerhouse, Doomguy was one of mine. For the finesser, I almost decided to go with Agent 47. Ooh. Because he could just put on the popcorn guy's outfit and walk right past the enemy team and trip them up without them knowing and just switch disguises or something.

Could have been a good manager, too.

Is he a good guy, though? I mean, I guess that's debatable. He's the protagonist. I don't know if you... Yeah, good is probably... little shaky there.

Um, I was going to, for my sympathetic baby face, I was going to maybe go with Arthur Morgan, of course. Yeah. Or Princess Zelda herself.

And then my other manager was going to be more clearly dog meat.

Whatever, dude. I know.

They're just so goofy and so much fun.

Absolutely. This is something I was looking forward to. Again, like all the people say in your guys' reviews, it's all true. And then some, it's hard to find people who just talk about this hobby and everything positively, but not like...

uselessly positively like you still critique you still honest i appreciate that but like just coming at it from a really place of love for the the hobby and the appreciation of it which in this world today there's not nearly enough of and especially in our social media sphere so like just sort of here i try to do very similar things because honestly it's the same thing we see it honestly we do yeah that's one reason we get along so well

That toxicness I try to avoid. I go, look, we've got enough of that. Let's talk about why we love this stuff. And so I totally connect with you guys on that. And I've very much been looking forward to this. So thank you for having me.

Sure. Yeah. No. So if you are into the wrestling scene at all, when we made this podcast, there are –

tons of wrestling podcasts all about like just who's good and who's bad and people again just arguing arguing arguing but we're like we love this and we wanted to put it about the storytelling that the shows are doing each and every week not the backstage politics not whose contracts expiring and not the inside baseball stuff even though i work inside the industry we wanted to keep it more focused on like oh this character like oh john cena's heel turn

narrative beats and like oh is this story working is it not working do these characters work for all the major promotions so it is called rebooked it is on youtube and all the podcast platforms it's myself uh golden boy alex mendez who works a lot in esports as well as our friend um jake who is a writer and producer in los angeles so uh yeah rebooked wrestling podcast look that up absolutely everywhere and uh come join us each and every week

If I ever have to drive anything, a spaceship, a car, oh, mousing keyboard is rough sometimes.

It's really cool. The nicest thing I ever, like, I don't care anything about, like, me personally, but the nicest thing you ever see in those streams, and I've seen it in other streamers' stuff too, is when people come in and they're like, oh, man, either I haven't played this in a while or I haven't played this before, but now I really want to. Like that's like the greatest compliment.

I don't care what you think about me personally, but if that environment is being shouted out to you, then that mission accomplished.

Starfield, I remember I was spinning around about 15 times before I got my bearings.

So one of the few ground rules that we laid, because we wanted it to be open. I didn't want to limit it too much. But if you do watch wrestling, if you don't, you know it's very theatrical, kind of physical storytelling and stuff like that. And we often will have what we call a baby face and a heel, a good guy and a bad guy. It's pretty classic, conniving bad guys and righteous good guys.

It's very old school, but I'm like, you know what? I think that should be a rule that if you decide to go one way, you got to stick with that because in wrestling, very few, if ever you see teams, especially these large teams where it would be like one heel, two baby bases, another heel, it's usually all good guys versus all bad guys.

So one ground rule was whatever way you decided to go, everybody on your team had to be like an antagonist, a villain, a bad guy, or on the opposite, a good guy, a hero, et cetera. All right.

He's been stomped by a short Italian plumber a lot for a large mythical being. But okay. Yeah. You do you, Ryan. You do you.

That is true. Yeah. Maybe there's more strategy to this than we thought. Yeah. Yeah.

That's all you get.

It's the drama king himself, Matt Rehwoldt. Hello. Hello, hello, hello. And hey, Ryan, you know what? Don't feel bad. Kicking out at one is a sign of strong style. It is very respected. You know, you don't sit down for that two count and everything. No, you're right up at one. So that's good.

Like, what am I not thinking about here? So, I'm curious how this is going to go for me. I don't really know. Because I think about, again, coming from this actual business and doing this for a living, I think of it very differently. So, I didn't want to think of this as just a kid picking up his four biggest toys. and smashing them together, and whatever's the biggest, strongest.

I wanted to have a little bit more thought process, because that's what we do in our business. We tell stories. We're trying to weave a tapestry here as much as we can. So, with that in mind, I will start off with every good team needs a leader. Because you're getting a ragtag group of people together.

You need somebody who can kind of unite people, lead them into battle, kind of like corral everyone, improve morale, and lead. Because there are some powerful people and characters in video games who are not good at working with others. So I took that into consideration.

So I have a couple, but I think, since I'm starting off the top here, I think it's hard to pick a better leader, warrior, to take you into battle than John 117 himself, the Master Chief. He's big. He's powerful, towering over you in that power armor. And I mean, if there's anybody you're going to get to rally behind, a group of people, strangers or no. You know what I mean?

He's got Cortana popping out, spitting advice to everybody too. You know what I mean? Calculating the odds of absolutely everything.

I know. I'm like, I want to join your team. I want to wrestle. That's right. That's right. So I believe Master Chief is somebody everybody on that team would lay down their very soul for if necessary.

No. No, no, no. I'm doing, for what it's worth, I'm doing manager last. I have my reasons for each pick, so I'm starting with the leader, kind of like the team captain, if you will.

Finishing the spot. Yeah.

I think I read one of the books. I actually read one or two of the Halo books. Didn't they say something like two tons or something like that? What? It was something ridiculous because they were like seven feet tall and the armor was like 700 pounds or something. I don't know.