I consider thechairshot.com Founder & Publisher Greg DeMarco one of my closest online friends & confidants. He offers good perspective on the pro wrestling, though I don’t like to point it out too often because it might seem like kissing up to the boss. I’m no Pat Patterson or Gerald Brisco.

With that being said, one of the best points he’s ever made regarding wrestling was recently revisited on the Chairshot Radio Network. It was something I never really thought about until one day while fooling around on Twitter I saw Greg going on one of his multi-tweet rants about one of the main reasons Roman Reigns & Jinder Mahal were on top of WWE at the time.

They were MEN.

As Greg pointed out, the wrestling business was built on the backs of MEN. Not boys. Not guys, or even dudes. MEN. The statement holds up when you think about it. Hulk Hogan? MAN. Bruno Sammartino? MAN. Ric Flair? Called himself the “Nature Boy”, but we know he was also The MAN. Steve Austin? MAN. The Rock? MAN. John Cena? MAN. Go on down the list of every top draw in the history of this business, and you’ll see a whole lot of grown-ass men.

That’s what people want to see. Why do you think AEW ratings hit their highest point since Memorial Day this week? They started their show by introducing the mainstream world to Eddie Kingston. Now, the Mad King doesn’t have that larger than life physique that men like Jinder Mahal bring to the table. Eddie’s got a little bit of a belly, it is what it is. But when somebody comes out talking the kind of jazz Eddie talks…people stand up and take notice.

You wanna meet him in a dark alley? I don’t think so. Eddie Kingston is a MAN. He’ll take your eye out of its socket, and he’ll do it with pleasure. You won’t see him vomit after doing it either. That man has seen some stuff and done some things. AEW has a lot of guys & dudes on their roster, but the men stand out. Why do you think Jon Moxley is their champion? Dean Ambrose was a guy, Jon Moxley is a MAN. Hangman Adam Page is more of a MAN than anybody else in The Elite, that’s why he’s the most popular member of the group with AEW fans at this point.

Wrestling fans like MEN. That’s why football players have done so well in wrestling over the years. Wahoo McDaniel. Ernie Ladd. Bill Goldberg. Steve “Mongo” McMichael. All MEN, and all very successful in football & wrestling. We’ve also seen some killer crossover feuds between football players & wrestlers. Dick the Bruiser & Alex Karras had a memorable feud in Detroit. Lawrence Taylor & Bam Bam Bigelow main evented WrestleMania XI. In addition to Mongo & Goldberg, WCW brought in Kevin Greene & Reggie White for special attraction matches.

We’re talking about some of the biggest badasses in NFL history.

LT was arguably the best linebacker ever. White was arguably the best defensive end ever. Greene & Karras were Hall of Famers at their positions. These were tough men wading in the pro wrestling waters. Nobody questioned their credentials. Grown Ass MEN.

So now WWE NXT is presenting us with a new twist. We got a football player and a pro wrestler having issues. It’s happened before, will probably happen again. Tough guys gonna argue over who’s better. On the surface, it sounds like a real manly battle between real men.

Until we hear who’s involved.

On one side, we have a punter who got popular with Barstool fans by being obnoxious. I know there are some of you out there who think Pat McAfee has something to offer, but other than insulting the equally obnoxious Sam Roberts I’m not sure what it is.

Then we have Adam Cole, Bay Bay. He certainly doesn’t dwarf the punter. WWE lists him as 6 feet tall, and I assume they took that measurement while he was standing on top of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy books. Don’t get me wrong, Cole is a very good in-ring performer. But, there is a reason why he held the C brand championship for over a year and not the A or B brand.

Anywho, Cole was a guest on McAfee’s podcast, and the following happened:

Here is the clip of Adam Cole and Pat McAfee having words with each other. pic.twitter.com/I3V9kGi25D

— Fightful Wrestling (@FightfulWrestle) July 23, 2020

Man oh man! Lotta F bombs being dropped! Cole was mad about something! Just a crazy scenario that…ok I can’t even act like I think that was real. Some men are able to suspend my disbelief. Say, if Eddie Kingston was in that studio and dropping some F bombs, I probably would have believed it. If Eddie Kingston is yelling “FUCK YOU”, I tend to believe he’s very angry about something, and whoever is on the receiving end is in some trouble.

This? Come on now.

As good a worker as Cole can be in-ring, he just doesn’t have that gravitas. He doesn’t make me believe he can whoop ass in a dark alley. When Bam Bam Bigelow shoved Lawrence Taylor to the ground, you felt some real heat. You thought those guys might have an issue. One was arguably the best NFL linebacker ever, the other was the Beast from the East and one of the baddest looking people in the wrestling business. That was something worth getting interested in.

Here, we have Adam Cole and a punter. I have no idea if McAfee was the best punter of a decade or some arbitrary 10 year range, nor do I care. He’s a punter. Not a linebacker, not a defensive end or lineman. Not an offensive lineman, or even a tight end. Or hell, even a wide receiver or running back. We’re talking about a damn punter. Rich Eisen fans will come in to tell me that punters are people too, that’s fine, but football players don’t even consider them part of the team.

Honestly. As somebody that remembers legitimate tough football players getting involved in pro wrestling, you’re going to ask me to get excited about a punter targeting a 5’6 guy that can’t get on one of the top two brands? Wrestling fans want to see MEN fighting. This is two guys slap-fighting & dropping profanities to try and get the attention of the fringe of a niche audience.

Pathetic. Give me MEN that can get over without cursing. If NXT can offer some of that, they’ll have my attention. If this is their idea of men fighting…well, that’s their cross to bear.