Wrestling Podcasts: From Colt Cabana to the WWE Network

We take a look at the impact of podcasts on the wrestling world.

This week marks the 5 year anniversary of Colt Cabana’s Art of Wrestling podcast.

Whilst podcasts we’re a big thing in the worlds of entertainment and comedy, Cabana was at the forefront of the evolution of the podcast into the wrestling scene.

I’m sure that when the Chicago native sat down to to record his first episode, he didn’t realise what an impact his idea would have on the landscape of pro wrestling.

In the 5 years that followed his debut, we’ve seen a plethora of personalities pop up into the podcast world. The likes of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Chris Jericho and Jim Ross have pushed the genre into the mainstream.

With so many current and former superstars giving their wrestling centric fan base a window into their lives, likes and loves, it’s given the everyday fan the chance to hear form their favourite superstars and keep up to date with all things wrestling.

But the evolution of the podcasts, which has seen everything from story lines progress to stories of the early days of many mens careers, can (in a roundabout way) be traced back to the popularity of Colt and his sit down interviews with his friends.

Everyone from Kevin (Steen) Owens, Neville (the man formerly known as Pac) and Seth Rollins (Tyler Black) to Mick Foley, Daniel Bryan and William Regal have appeared on the show.

Whilst most podcasts stick to the household names, something that sets the Art of Wrestling apart is the regular appearances of the lesser known names. People like Willie Mack, Gregory Iron and Grado have been introduced to a brand new audience courtesy of Mr Cabana.

The episodes that everyone is likely to have heard about are the episodes featuring Colt’s best friend CM Punk.

Last year, episode 226 literally broke the internet. Unlike any other interview with the former WWE Champion, this was where he set his side of the story on him leaving WWE. the repercussions of which are still ongoing today.

If it weren’t for the Art of Wrestling i think it’s safe to say we’d never have heard the majority of the stories, from some of the biggest stars ever, that we have.

We’d never have seen Stone Cold or Talk is Jericho taking centre stage on the WWE Network like we have. We’d not get our weekly chance to hear from probably the greatest commentator ever, good ol’ JR. And we’d certainly not hear from the likes of Wade Keller and Dave Meltzer every week on their respective shows.

There are so many podcasts released every week it’s sometimes hard to keep up. With everything from the stars interviewing each other, to fans reviewing the latest shows, to people looking back at the history of wrestling. Some of the best are mentioned already but honourable mentions must also go to the Human Podcast Machine with ECW legend Taz, The Attitude Era Podcast and The New Generation Project Podcast.

We have a lot to thank Colt Cabana for, but for me personally i thank him for the hundreds, if not thousands of hours of podcasts that his Art of Wrestling show has inspired.

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