Ep 391 "Critically Something New"

March 12, 2026·1 hr 9 min·1 clip

It starts before it really starts. Someone is recording, somebody is still setting up, and the delay is already part of the joke. The opening banter is loose, loud, and packed with side comments. They kick around whether to cue music for a few seconds, blast an intro, or just keep rolling. A Return of the Mac joke gets folded in too. That is the kind of room this is. The episode never really separates the setup from the show. It lets the whole mess become part of the atmosphere. Once the wrestling talk takes over, the pace tightens and gets a lot sharper. They jump from Raw to Judgment Day to Finn Balor and La Primera, and nobody pretends to be neutral about any of it. R-Truth and Tommaso Ciampa get the kind of praise that comes with frustration attached. The hosts keep circling what works, what does not, and what only looks good on TV without doing much in the ring. Jade Cargill takes a beating in the discussion for her matches, while Rhea Ripley comes across as the more interesting part of that story. Jordan Grace gets mentioned as someone they would like to see more of. The talk stays blunt instead of polished. Bad matches are not dressed up. They are called bad. Then the conversation shifts to AEW’s new app and the wider mess of wrestling distribution overseas. The hosts complain about blackout-style contracts, companies blocking one another in different countries, and fans being pushed into apps or YouTube just to keep up. That kind of industry detour fits the show. It gives the rant somewhere to go. By the end, the episode has drifted from wrestling politics into bodily jokes and doctor-room nonsense. The final stretch leans hard into crude advice, exit gags, and a ridiculous public-service announcement about fiber and cancer. It is messy, rude, and affectionate in the way only a long-running friend-group banter can be. Nobody in this room is trying to sound cleaned up. They sound like people who have known each other too long to bother. The episode closes with the same loose, profane, good-humored energy it opened with.

As heard by us

Loose, lively wrestling talk that stays banter-first and embraces its rough edges.

The episode opens in a messy, spirited register, with setup delays, music cues, and quick jokes about who arrived first before moving through Raw, Judgment Day, R-Truth, Jade Cargill, Rhea Ripley, Jordan Grace, and AEW's new My AEW app for overseas listeners.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want wrestling talk that starts in a mess and ends with a punchline.

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