82 - And Then They Break Your Heart (feat. Mith)

The NXT Wrestling Fan

Real talk: When I (Miles) originally started talking to MeganBob about doing this podcast, I knew that two things needed to happen: We needed to start with Sami Zayn's debut, and we needed to, at the very least, make it to NXT Takeover: R Evolution. Getting past R Evolution would be great (and don't worry, we will) but as long as we made it there, it would be enough. And now we're here, and I can't express how happy I am that we've gone on this journey. And I would never IN A MILLION YEARS have dreamed of being able to talk Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, and R Evolution with the one and only Mith.

If you're not familiar with Mith's work, that's something I highly recommend you change, whether it be via the famed Mith Gifs Twitter account or their essays on The Spectacle of Excess. I don't know that I've ever encountered a better writer on the subject of professional wrestling, and trust me, I have encountered most of them. If you want to be FULLY versed on the stuff we're talking about today, your light reading assignment is this essay on Sami Zayn's Road to Redemption, or, for the more ambitious among you, the 20-part series on the history of Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, which you can follow in order thanks to the links at the bottom of each essay as long as you start with the first one. I cannot possibly recommend these highly enough for anybody interested in these two characters, or just interested in reading great non-fiction writing.

Anyway, we are so honored and thrilled that Mith was able to join us to discuss all things R Evolution, and I'm so happy that you get to hear it! Please enjoy, and be sure to stick around until the end of the episode for important announcements about the future of this podcast!

Our theme song is called "Learnbuckle" and it was created by the uniquely talented Rafael Medina, whose work you can and should follow via his Twitter account, @EarthMeauxFaux! You can also follow Miles @mjschneiderman, MeganBob @meganbobness, and the show itself @nxtwrestlingfan. And if you'd like to support the show, check out our Patreon at www.patreon.com/nxtwrestlingfan.

Special thanks to our editor, Lucas Brown, who remains eternally the best! Listen to his excellent podcast, The Math of You, and follow him on Twitter @lokified. Additional music and sound credit to:

NewsSting by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4124-newssting License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Teddy Bear Waltz by Kevin MacLeod https://uppbeat.io/t/kevin-macleod/teddy-bear-waltz License code: JR8YJN7X9BTCYONZ

Green Fingers by Richard Rodgers https://uppbeat.io/t/richard-bodgers/green-fingers License code: ZLHSCJFJWJI8IQGL