What's good, everybody, it's your boy, the one and only Christian Hollister,
the OG and the World television Champion here to give my recollections on TLF
and to also offer my top ten TLF episodes, my favorite episodes in the
long and illustrous history of The Lapse fan. So before I begin, I
just went to just give a wonderful thanks and praise to Jack and JP for
ten years of being the most consistent of being the best and the greatest college
podcast of all time. You guys have done a tremendous job, and nothing
that you know we can do or say can really just show the level of
appreciation that we have for you. I know that it may seem like it's
a superlative in a lot of ways, but definitely TLF has been just a
tremendous force in the genre of pro wrestling podcast and really in the genre of
any podcast bar none. So I first learned of TLF, I first came
about TLF, and for those of you who know me who go back,
you know in the day and in the archives, if you will, I
have been down with TLF since day one, really since episode one. I
actually came about learning of The Lapse Fan while looking for honestly more podcasts that
I could listen to in regard to pro wrestling. I had listened to Cmpunk's
interview or his conversation with Cocobana ten years ago, and after that, I
just really wanted to find as many wrestling podcasts that I could, and I
happened to come across The Lapse Fan, and from that day until the present,
I have listened to every single episode of The Lapse Fan, and I
have been just a a fan of Jack and JP as well as someone who
admires the work that is put into creating every episode of The Labs Fan and
cultivating this podcast and to what it is. And another that we joke a
lot about saying that The Labs Fan is the greatest college podcast, but indeed
The Labs Fan is one of the, if not the greatest wrestling podcast which
has ever been produced. I mean the level of work and the amount of
information in all of these episodes, hundreds of episodes, I mean, it
would take you a lifetime to fully unpack and realize just how important TLF has
been to the genre of pro wrestling. And you can look at the ways
in which the WWE, AEW TNA, So many of the wrestling organizations have,
in my opinion, stolen many of the idea is suggestions from Jack and
JP and have incorporated them into their production, into their companies. And I
think that if we really are honest with ourselves and we look at what the
labs fan has offered, not only to us as listeners in the Solar system,
but those on the outside, and how influential the labs fan has been,
I think that we can be all on one accord, if you will,
and saying that TLF has been such an influential force in the progression of
the modern way that WWE, AW and etc. Have managed to recreate their
product. And I know that Jack and JP and many of us strongly believe
that it used to be better, and since it used to be better,
so many people have tried to recreate what used to be better. And I
think that that is again doing large part to what the Lapse Fan has offered
over these past ten years. So with that said, I have been again
down. Since day one, I have been a supporter. You guys know,
TLF has just been a tremendous podcast. I have laughed, I have
thought I have reflected I have, you know, been just in awe of
how much it takes to make this work. And I know that I speak
for Jack and JP by saying that, you know, the appreciation comes not
only from the Solar System to Jack and JP, but I'm sure the Jack
and JP appreciates the Solar System and this is just a wonderful opportunity and to
honor two guys who have really just it's been great. You know, I
don't want to just oversaturate you with superlatives, but honestly, you guys have
been great, and I thank you so very much for everything. So with
that said, I'm going to get into my top ten favorite TLF episodes in
order from ten to number one. So at number ten. Coming into number
ten is episode number one forty nine Monday Night Raw, the first episode of
Monday Night Rawl. Well, excuse me, actually wasn't the first episode of
Monday Night Raw. This episode itself was when Randy Savage went berserk and screaming
not guilty over and over and over again after Vince McMahon was acquitted of all
crimes in this deroid trial. Episode one fifty nine is number nine on my
list, and it is the Tribute to Bruto Sammartino, particularly part one where
Vince Senior was begging Bruno sint Martinez to get off of his ass, get
out of the hospital bed, and come and do the stadium show that Vince
Senior had put all of his money into despite knowing that Bruno had a broken
neck. By Stan Hansen, that is number nine. At number eight is
episode number ninety five, which was the nineteen ninety nine Over the Edge,
And I chose this for number eight because of the somber reading from Jack of
the details of Owen Hart's fall, and I think really that this was one
of the key moments for me personally, right, I understood that The Lapse
Fan was more than just, you know, a podcast that would laugh at
things and would also give a history of wrestling, but it went deep into
this investigative journalist type of of way really and the way in which you know,
Jack read from the transcript I believe it was, and of Martha Hart's
words and her feelings was just it was so sobering. And it was that
really that that first episode that separated The Lapse Fan in my opinion, from
so many other restling podcasts because of the way it approached the fall of Owen
Hart. At number seven is episode number one seventy four, and this is
the episode where Hogan. This is the the the episode where Hogan was just
so absolutely paranoid and how the WWE operated since he had been gone and he
was wandering backstage and he was just trying to make it was trying to make
sure that Vince did not change the main event from Hogan versus Michaels to Undertaker
versus Michael's. And I remember very vividly when I first listened to this,
laughing until it hurt when Vince had to fight Hogan at Gorilla to keep him
from going out into the ring and stopping the Undertaker after he had dropped the
leg. So that is number it's number seven. At number six of my
top ten favorite Tilife episodes is episode number one thirty two, which is the
ten years after the Crispin Wild tragedy, particularly Part three, and quite like
the Over the Age nineteen ninety nine episode, this particular episode was so it
was so sombering. It was, you know, so much went into that
and for all of us who had lived through the Crispin Wild tragedy, and
had watched in real time how the WWE watched its handling of everything from Vince
coming out on Monday Night rawl and giving that tribute special to the very next
day having to backtrack and effectively remove an erased Chris Meanwhile from the WWE cannon.
The way in which both Jack and JP really handled explaining the tragedy in
detail was tremendous, and so that is number six. Number five on this
list is actually episode number three sixty eight, but this episode number fifty of
Under the Cinemat, which is the episode featuring the ridiculous yet just surreal VHS
of I Like to Hurt People. And the reason why I chose this one
is because I swear I know this film by heart, and that's due to
the amount of times that my dad and myself would on VHS and this was
one of my first go to rentals whenever we would go to Blockbuster and I
would go over immediately to the area where they had wrestling video rentals, and
I would always want to rent this video. My dad always oblige me in
doing so, and so I Like to Hurt people. The Cinnamon Under the
Cinnamon Number fifty comes in at number five, and number four on my list
is episode number three twenty five, Part one, which is the Colisseum Collection
The Life and Times of Captain lu Albano, and I love this primarily for
the ending of this episode when Captain lou is taking the lie detector tests and
he loses his fucking mind once it has proven that he lied, and just
thinking about it makes me want to laugh now. But that is just one
of the funniest episodes that I have ever heard, especially at that very end
where where Captain Lewis is, he just goes berserk, He loses, he
loses his shit. So at number three is episode two forty two, Parts
one and two, which is the Art of War Games, the Great American
Bash nineteen eighty seven, And I was so pumped when I found out that
Jack and JP were going to be doing a deep dive of war games and
in particular of the Great American Bash nineteen eighty seven, because I had that
VHS. I still do have that VHS, and I actually have the DVD
which features all of the interviews and episodes of World Championship Wrestling and Worldwide Wrestling
and the run up to and in the wake of the Great American Bash nineteen
eighty seven, and I absolutely loved you know, the art of war gains,
but in particular just knowing how JP became knowledgeable if you will, have
some of the ins and outs of of JPC at that point in time.
So that is my number three episode. My my number two episode of my
top ten favorite TLF episodes of all time is episode number one sixty three The
NWA Class of the Champions nineteen eighty eight Sting and Flair, forty five minutes
TBS in opposition to WrestleMania four. What else can you do but give praise
to the first clash in how it absolutely trounced in big league in many ways,
at least from an inter ring perspective, the very boring WrestleMania four.
And I believe that this is my first interview really with the co chairs,
as I believe that I had picked this as you know, a Patreon picking
if you will, for this clash and coming in at number one, my
favorite, my favorite, absolute favorite TAIL episode. What else can it be
but episode number three thirty two, every part of it Black Saturday. I
picked that episode and I talked about it, and you know, when the
episode was released in during the interview session. But I picked this episode because
it is that transitional moment from everything before Black Saturday in nineteen eighty four,
really before January of nineteen eighty four when Hogan won the title, to everything
that came after it, the wrestling war between Turner and Vince USA, WTBS,
and everything else that came along with it. What else can I say
but Black Saturday and how Black Saturday really in many ways helped to set up
the first Wrestlemanium and having just the opportunity to to vote on that and to
win the opportunity to place this on the table for it to forever be the
quintessential rundown of one of the most important and infamous episodes in pro wrestling history,
Black Saturday. What else could it be but number one. So again
I want to say thank you to Jack and JP, Congratulations TLF for all
that you have done. I will be with you through the bitter end the
next ten years. And as the DC one said, nobody does it better.
Thank you guys, please