Later than we intended thanks to the flu, here’s what was supposed to be stopgap content over the holidays. Make sure to check out the latest Patreon shows, and be on the lookout for the return of the weekly show this Monday. Now, for the original show descriptions: — Part 1: It’s Thanksgiving, and you know what that means: A new Patreon deep dive, this time looking at the first ridiculous startup promotion of the post-WCW era, John Collins’ Main Event Championship Wrestling. And since he was right in the thick of things, we’re joined by our dear from Beau James (@kingofkingsport) throughout this first part (of two, with another episode coming in December). Topics include the initial buzz that Beau heard before the news of the startup broke publicly, Collins paying his guys to appear at shows promoted by Beau and others that he was making zero dollars from, various ridiculous interviews that Collins gave on radio shows, Bill Behrens, Mike Samples, and others publicly warning everyone about Collins’ sketchiness, the MECW “TV taping” at the ECW Arena being made a free show at the last minute, Collins doing a TV pilot taping there in the first place after already having shot a separate pilot, Terry Taylor publicly flirting with a job in MECW, all of the drama with Buff Bagwell refusing to do a job for then-NWA World Heavyweight Champion Steve Corino, and much more. Like we keep saying: John Collins is like putting Paul Heyman/ECW, Herb Abrams/the UWF, and Olu Olalyemi/Joe Pedicino/the GWF in a blender. You do NOT want to miss this show. Happy Thanksgiving! Part 2: It’s that time of the month, and you know what that means: The second anf final part of our deep dive into the utter disaster that was Main Event Championship Wrestling, John Collins' post-WCW/ECW startup. Topics include everything going to hell after the big "TV taping" at the former ECW Arena, flights to Evansville being cancelled and Collins blaming Paul Heyman when he just hadn't paid for them, an amazing (and lengthy!) lesson in promoting towns from Beau, Collins self-destructing on a conference call with Tod Gordon, Bob Ryder, and Dave Scherer, wrestlers showing up at Collins' home to demand their money, the simultaneous rise of fellow nebulous startups Super Fed and WrestleXpress, Collins harassing Crimson Mask from the Wrestling Classics Message Board on AOL Instant Messenger, Collins "having a heart attack" more than once, MECW's backer being under court order not to spend money since before MECW was even announced, Collins working as a heel manager on shows syndicated by Bill Behrens while Bill's own promotion has a heel doing a Collins parody gimmick, Terry Taylor's "Torch Talk" interview, Collins' SECOND promotion, the Torch's year-end quiz, Collins going to federal prison thanks to MECW, and MUCH more. This is an amazing show and we hope you enjoy it! Timestamps: 0:00:00 Prologue & July 2001 1:55:15 Early August 2001 3:14:08 Late August 2001 (and Beau's lesson in local promotion) 5:11:35 September 2001 6:19:55 October 2001 and beyond To support the show and get access to exclusive rewards like special members-only monthly themed shows, go to our Patreon page at Patreon.com/BetweenTheSheets and become an ongoing Patron. Becoming a Between the Sheets Patron will also get you exclusive access to not only the monthly themed episode of Between the Sheets, but also access to our new mailbag segment, a Patron-only chat room on Slack, and anything else we do outside of the main shows! If you’re looking for the best deal on a VPN service—short for Virtual Private Network, it helps you get around regional restrictions as well as browse the internet more securely—then Private Internet Access is what you’ve been looking for. Not only will using our link help support Between The Sheets, but you’ll get a special discount, with prices as low as $1.98/month if you go with a 40 month subscription. With numerous great features and even a TV-specific Android app to make streaming easier, there is no better choice if you’re looking to subscribe to WWE Network, AEW Plus, and other region-locked services. For the best in both current and classic indie wrestling streaming, make sure to check out IndependentWrestling.tv and use coupon code BTSPOD for a free 5 day trial! (You can also go directly to TinyURL.com/IWTVsheets to sign up that way.) If you convert to a paid subscriber, we get a kickback for referring you, allowing you to support both the show and the indie scene. To subscribe, you can find us on iTunes, Google Play, and just about every other podcast app's directory, or you can also paste Feeds.FeedBurner.com/BTSheets into your favorite podcast app using whatever “add feed manually” option it has. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/between-the-sheets/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
