There are few wrestlers further apart in terms of...well, just about everything than CM Punk and Baron Corbin, but it was the presence of both the ‘Voice Of The Voiceless’ and WWE’s current King that the company and Fox utilised to try and hook viewers for the latest edition of a show that continues to look for footing rather than actually finding it.
Punk’s lone appearance since his shocking return hasn’t exactly helped - the former WWE Champion is categorically the biggest curiosity draw Backstage has regardless of the angles making the news on television, but the fact he appears not to be doing it full time makes keeping those viewers slightly trickier. And anyway, why isn’t he? That’s perhaps the one thing he will have in common with ‘The Lone Wolf’ - neither of them can be a*sed with this show every week.
Luckily (?), your writer can. WWE filler it might be, but it’s digestible content compared to how it feels to sit down to two or three hours of the longest weekly episodic programmes in the f*cking universe or however they refer to them these days. Seth Rollins came across positively affable last time, how did the wholly detestable dog food aficionado manage this week?
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years.
As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say.
With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling.
Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.
