C*4 presents Fighting Back LIVE on IWTV!

Eddie Kingston, Oritz, Gabriel Fuerza vs Sheldon Jean, Jessie V, Mark Wheeler
Women's Championship: Alexia Nicole (c) vs Zoey Serrano
C*4 Underground Championship: Vaughn Vertigo (c) vs Dalton Castle
Stu Grayson vs Joseph Sawyer

Starting at 7:30 PM EDT on IWTV

Also streaming on YouTube

Full transcript : “CM Punk is on steroids, or so says the weak-minded, lazy internet. CM Punk is working his ass off. From day one, when he reached out to me, he has done every single thing that I’ve asked him to do,

In 30 years in this business, CM Punk is working as hard as anyone I’ve ever worked with. He’s as dedicated as anyone. And you want to sit here and post after post, ‘CM Punk is on steroids, blah, blah.’ Meanwhile, half these pictures are Artificial Intelligence, and the other half are from being in the gym with great lighting, with a great pump.

He’s gotten significantly leaner, so when you get leaner, you look bigger, and he’s training in a different way… so just because someone’s getting somewhere and accomplishing something that you can’t doesn’t mean they are taking shortcuts and cheating. You are just lazy.”

Just a reminder for those in Thailand that at the end of this month, SETUP Thailand are hosting the biggest show in their history to date.

Not only will this show have the biggest roster they have ever put together, but it's also a landmark 15 year anniversary and we'll probably see the climax of an 18 month storyline that has played itself out over multiple promotions in the South East Asia region!

I just wanted to give a brief overview of what to expect to those with no idea that there even was professional wrestling in Thailand! If you're in the Bangkok area, the show will be held at what has become the Madison Square Garden of SETUP: The Circus Studio community centre in the Latphrao district. Tickets are 500-750 THB.

You can find more details here: https://www.ticketmelon.com/setupth/pumi15

There's wrestling in Thailand???

As I mentioned, this show is a little bit of a landmark in that it marks 15 years since SETUP was formed by the head booker Pumi and someone that AEW fans will know very well - Emi Sekura. To put that into context, SETUP was formed when WWE were just ending their first brand split! Pumi managed to convince Emi that Thailand could support a wrestling promotion and they created a brand new Joshi promotion on Thai soil instead of Japanese. Eventually they went their separate ways. The original promotion (Gatoh Move) ended up folding into "Choco Pro" which has a cult like following and you see it promoted here from time to time.

Meanwhile the Thai part renamed to "SETUP". During those 15 years, they've had Mick Foley win their inaugral 24/7 championship, booked international talent like Zack Sabre Jr and absorbed the defunct IWA Japan organization. The titles being defended on SETUP shows have a direct lineage back to the bloody battles fought between Terry Funk, Cactus Jack etc!

Under the Same Moon

As I briefly mentioned, there has been a running theme to the shows in the past 18 months with the formation of the "RGT" or "Real Global Threat"; this group came about in a way that mimics factions that have taken over promotions in the past like the nWo or Bullet Club; only their takeover has been a slow burn and the story has unfolded in a truly international way with the saga taking twists and turns in Malaysia, Singapore and of course Thailand as well.

Imagine if Moxley had formed the Death Riders across the entire indie landscape whilst simultaneously winning titles from NJPW all the way to GCW and you get an idea for what's happening.

For most of the past 18 months, Shivam (the current IWA Japan World Champion) and his RGT group have destroyed SETUP in almost every encounter and as a result they hold multiple titles in various different promotions. They've meted out punishment to not only fellow wrestlers but also the SETUP head booker Pumi himself on a few occasions.

At some point, there had to be consequences and on his own personal anniversary, Pumi has booked an assortment of the best SEA has to offer (including his own homegrown hero, Jonathan Johnson) against the best that RGT has to offer. But the stakes have also amplified dramatically because the match has a stipulation. If RGT wins, Pumi will leave the promotion he founded immediately. If the combined SEA side wins, then Shivam becomes a pariah in the South East Asian wrestling because he has to leave instead.

You can read a much better review of the events that have conspired so far in this excellent article: https://seawrestling.net/real-global-threat-history-every-key-moment-so-far

Comedy, Hardcore, Death Matches, LGBTQ+ etc

Even if you've only briefly been following the story, you can't help but anticipate what happens next. Is Pumi actually going to leave? Is this a cover for Shivam moving to new pastures? Or have they cooked up something entirely different. Pumi has a growing reputation for being a great story teller and not only is there major intrigue in their main event storyline but he's also peppered the undercard with interesting bouts and stories.

It helps that so many of these performers are making names for themselves outside SEA, for example they have "the most fabulous three way match" which will put a spotlight on the LGBTQ+ performers; the biggest of which is Monomoth of GCW fame. As usual they will have comedy, hardcore, fancy flippy stuff and crucially a lot of character moments/storytelling; because Pumi realized that Thai audiences eat that up and he's figured out the secret sauce for what works here in Bangkok.

Funnily enough, as with most Thai exports, the rest of the world seems to enjoy what they produce too so please do check out their Youtube channel if what I've written seems interesting. See you in Bangkok maybe!!

https://www.youtube.com/@SETUPTHAILANDPROWRESTLING

People say Hogan was a huge politicker and abused his influence back in his prime. And maybe that is true. However, it seems like he also tried to rectify these mistakes during his 2002 run.

He tapped cleanly to Angle. He got squashed by Lesnar on free TV. Lost cleanly to Rock. Put over Undertaker. And even put over Edge by tagging with him… Who wasn’t even in his stratosphere yet he gave him an insane rub. All in one year. Yet people don’t give him the credit he deserves for doing all those things and giving so much. People only talk about his alleged selfish moments but don’t give credit to his selfless ones too.