I attended my first WWE PPV earlier this year (Elimination Chamber. Perth, Australia). The way the ring crew changed the ring mat was both amazing and surprising. Amazing in the efficiency of the crew, and surprising because you rarely think about this while watching on a television.
I really liked the WCW rings. I loved the sound from them and how much bounce they had when people were slammed on them. I know the WCW wrestlers had a hard time adjusting to the stiffness of the WWE rings.
Yes ! The rings from Georgia Championship Wrestling on WTBS in the early 80's. Those rings had a cool sound like a snare drum and the bounce looked cool. I wanted to jump in one and do some bumps.
Same. I wish AEW or WWE would try to improve the sound of the ring more to make it sound more like an old WCW ring. It would be do-able with correct microphone type and placement.
This really feels like a peak behind the curtain. Loved Stevie's gimmick with Right to Censor, never expected him to become one of the best Wrestling content creators as well, but I'm all for it!
It's fascinating to watch you and Maven's postcasts cause you talk about the stuff i've been wondering for yrs. Many wrestlers have talked about how scripted the shows are, but you talk about what happens backstage and opinions on stuff that most don't :)
James, Stevie, I'm really enjoying this series. I've never been a big Stevie fan, but he's shown such vulnerability and kind temperament through this series that he's one of my favorites now. James, I've been following your growth for some years now. You've worked hard to earn the trust of these people, to present a good-looking and good-sounding production, and ... well, humanity. You've transcended wrestling nerd fandom and have brought a kind, patient, thoughtful, reflective flavour to shoot interviews. Stevie, your Shawn Michaels story brought me to tears. Thank you for sharing of yourself.
Stevie you and I have met several times at Costco in Waterbury, and on the independent shows that I was either at or putting on. I’m really glad to see you started your own show. You’re an amazing talent and amazing person. I really love how you explained people who might not know the differences between companies and rings. I’m gonna watch the rest of your videos. I’m looking forward and thinking about getting back into this business on the independent level maybe you and I could talk, I’ve been out of the business since 2009 and I miss it every day man. I ran independent company World Class Wrestling Alliance WCWA. I’m so happy I was able to come across your video.
Hope Stevie and James get some following on this. Stevie is great at explaining (and seems a tremendously nice bloke) and I do appreciate the production quality being so high.
22:58 - I love it and nothing ruins it more than an announcer that will not shut up and let the sounds of action, character and impact come out. That's why I like watching Japan's promotions like Marigold or Stardom when they have no announcer.
I love getting into the technical aspects of the rings. I have a fascination with the types, styles, sounds etc and how they vary across promotions and countries. I've wrestled in a few small promotions in the UK. Biggest I wrestled in was 16ft with a spring. It was loud, gave a great bounce but could easily bite back. Smallest was a 12ft. It was great to bump in, but the size was really limiting, unless you kept big bumps to a minimum. I grew to really like the 16ft ring due to the extra space for spots, but also using the space to really sell to the crowd.
It makes sense for WWE to have rings for their European tours. Never thought of it, but you go over there 1 or 2 times a year you don't want to have to rent a ring and hope it's good quality. Cheaper and safer in the long run to buy some rings and keep them in storage for most of the year.
Yep. That’s exactly why they did it, was getting too much to ship rings in every time and injuries by below par rented rings were a worry. Im almost sure Germany was one of the first places in Europe they had a bought wwe ring there .
great segment. it really reminded me of matches with barry windham and dustin rhodes (early 90s wcw). both guys are 6'6+, and could do nearly every move imaginable. you could see how much they had to work to get all the moves to fit within the confines of the ring. it was incredible because their pace was just outrageous to get all the moves in and timing them to not have the ring ropes negatively impact the work. it's really fascinating talk. i was watching a wwf match from '83. it was snuka and maybe andre vs the samoans. the ropes were perhaps too high or snuka just wasn't thinking but when he whipped by the samoan to the ropes while holding afa in the headlock he actually missed the top rope and sort of crouched down with afa in the headlock and took what looked like a really awkward bounce of the second rope. those little things. Great stuff guys!!
You mentioned at 11:19 if you drop on a bolt or something there goes your back. That is similarly what happened to Davey Boy hitting that metal trap door in WCW, destroying his back. RIP Bulldog.
What happened to Davey was completely avoidable. Since a WarGames match was going to happen, just have them wrestle in the other ring or tell the guys to watch out for that spot.
16:20 yes they did have a different size ring sometimes. They had a small 10x10 or 12x12 ring in Prince Edward Island for a house show in the early-mid 2000s at the Charlottetown Civic Center. The only show ive ever been to. No screens, entrance ramp, they didnt even set up their own sound system. You couldnt make out whos music it was, no pyro or lights. Just picture Kane coming out of a penalty box entrance, out to the concrete floor, to the ring, then bring his arms up, drop them, and nothing happens 😂. Rey Mysterio was there too, there were a few cool names. I think Hurricane was there, and RVD too, But yeah the ring was tiny and as a kid i was kind of let down by the lack of effort. 😂
You always want to have your large bumps in the center. Where the most give is with the center spring underneath. Any bump outside of that radius is MUCH harder on your body for sure. No matter what style of ring your in. Plus, the wood used under the mat makes a huge difference as well.
I have bumped both in a stiff boxing ring and a ring that had give and man the difference in how your body recovers differently. Took longer to recover from the boxing style ring. Also I prefer the ropes versus cable only for the fact that the cable felt like it was punching back everytime I came off of them. The rope style felt less brutal. Only say this cause I had massive bruises on my lower back running the cable ropes. Great video topic and it gave me some reflection on my time in the ring and never actually thought about the differences until now. Love The Show🤘
Speaking of checking the tightness of the ropes... I always laugh looking back at Randy Savage WWF footage when he'd go for the elbow drop, the ropes were so loose that him standing up there would bend the top turnbuckle all the way down to the middle rope sometimes.
So glad stevie and James have decided to work together , been a fan of both for a while . Stevie is genuinely one of the nicest guys ever and for me he speaks so much sense and also he’s honest, he tries to be kind , doesn’t constantly want to bitch and moan about everyone else and remember he was very ill not long ago , the fact he’s doing what he’s doing now actually proves how tough he really is, he couldn’t walk not long ago, think about it , massive credit to him. James really does deserve credit too, he’s worked his ass off cot a whole time do what he’s doing. Hes writing books , making podcasts , all at his expense without a big company or massive money behind him , that’s quite a scary thing at first I’d imagine, I hope these two go on to get bigger and bigger , personally they are fast becoming the very best for me . A special request James gets in the ring and does some training with stevie and takes one move from Dutch 😂
Great dynamic lads. Never heard the 'star' of a podcast say 'I sent you something on that' on every new point. It shows that Stevie gives a toss and that he's meticulous. Great pick up James. Glad to say I have a new podcast to listen to. All the best.
Plate aluminum wouldn't dent from anything the wrestlers would do to them. You would need to hit it with a compact object, like a hammer, to dent it. I was grid crew for many concerts using a structure to hang lighting and speakers, "the grid". The structure was aluminum. You can build something with the same strength as steel with about 1/3rd the weight with aluminum. Aluminum diamond plate, what those steps appear to be made of, is very common. I've not touched those steps, but I highly doubt that they are in fact steel. There would be no benefit from them being steel over aluminum.
Saw a video where two cameras were under the ring for the entire match. There's two mics for the sound. The cameras show the plywood has springs attached like a trampoline to absorb the bumps. It's loud under the ring because it works like a drum to amplify the sound. The wrestlers stomp their feet for max noise. Manufacturers must sell a safe product but the installers have to know what their doing. The "Ropes" (actually cable with a plastic or cloth covering) must not be too tight or loose. Obviously the turnbuckles must be properly padded. There are enough injuries without faulty or improperly installed equipment.
The older WWF Rings had a spring in the middle and plywood and those rings where the worst to bump in (the spring was too stiff and would not give good bounce) then they switched to Flexbeams and Boards and that gave a much better bump. Those are the rings you see on WWE and AEW today
When I ref'd on the indie circuit in the 90s, I always would alert the wrestlers to any abnormalities. They always appreciated it. Often times I'd be the only ref, so I'd be out there for the whole show. So, I'd get a good idea where there were hazards. I remember Greg Valentine thanking me after a show for pointing out a hole near a corner. I told him while I pretending to "go over the rules" before the match. He made me feel like I saved his career. lol BTW, I ref'd many Stevie Richards matches. He was always very kind as you can see in these videos.
i cant get enough of this new show, listened to all the eps , i grew up in the uk and we did not have sky tv at home so Heat on sunday on channel 4 was my shit, right to censor theme forever stuck in my head lol.
This is great stuff.... always liked Stevie since going to ECW house shows in the 90's. I remember Spike Dudley was on the ring crew too and would be breaking it down and loading it out after the shows. Edit...BWO!
I used to ride in the Ring Truck with Rex, (Kirk White's Big Time Wrestling, Newark CA) and help set the ring up with Pam Martinez aka Bayley when she worked as Davina Rose. I was properly hazed. Never let the Ropes Touch the Ground!
Stevie is like the classic 'guy who wasn't good, but because he wasn't good, he thinks of every single, solitary, piece of minutia because he had to just in order to compete' - and is a master communicator who can explain this stuff to colossal idiots like us. He's like the classic MLB journeyman like an Alex Cora who is like a mastermind manager/coach/explainer. This is so valuable and fun.
I know it's a small amount bro, but huge wrestling fan from Australia Seen you in my childhood, loved the entrance video You'll see and the Stevie kick and being in drag with Victoria 😅 Would love a 5mins video chat with you!!! Would make my day please let me know how much Take care Michael
Imo WWF/WWE always had a lively sounding ring and WCW had almost a dry lumber sound.. like you could hear the 2x4 bouncing under the mat of WCW lol. Till this day if I heard someone taking a bump in a WWF ring or a WCW ring without seeing it I will be able to tell which ring belongs to what company based off the sound.
I love hearing about the rings and the differences between them. I heard early WWF ones were really tough while WCW ones were much nicer. This is such good shit, pal!
A long time ago when I was training to be a wrestler Stevie was a guest instructor and a lot of what he is saying in this video he said back then. The ring I trained in was a 16 footer and it was crazy trying to work a spot with him in a 16 footer where he is in the center and Irish whips me rope to rope. I took what he taught me and I always tested every ring I ever been in. Many “promoters” hated me when I refused to bump in their unsafe ring. If they rented a ring that was unsafe, same thing. They hated when I refused to bump in the unsafe ring they were renting.
If you're looking for the WWE documentary on ring creation, here's the link: th-cam.com/video/8YfBi8-Bwgs/w-d-xo.html The guy in charge is really passionate about what he does, I love that. Somebody commented that the documentary should have been 30+ minutes rather than like 7, I agree. This stuff is fascinating to a lot of people, which is why I think you'll find this Stevie video will get a lot of views.
I was lucky enough to volunteer for an indie company when I was a teenager. One of the wrestlers let me in the ring and hit me with a suplex and an Irish whip. I was also allowed to take home the trash can they hit each other with during a different show.
Savage did such creative things with the ropes you thought it was going to become the style then, but only now is it bigger factor on tv and people like Iyo brilliantly never trust the rope tension so she's always adapting most efficient ways to use them, similar to Riccochet, Ospreay.
Thanks for the discussion. I've always been curious about the production aspect of wrestling, & rings are something that unless you're in the business, you won't have much access to understand what goes into them. I've got to imagine that most wrestlers would prefer the 20x20 ring.
Stevie, I’d love to have you at CWF in Pensacola/Milton one day. I think you’d really appreciate our process and could teach us and our guys a lot. Damn I love this channel lol
Ring stairs are most definitely aluminum. Aluminum doesn't always "bend" (see: AIRPLANES) Aluminum is much lighter for transport purposes and cheaper as well. It's diamond tread aluminum like used to make tool boxes for truck beds. You can literally see the diamond tread on them.
WWE rings have to have microphones in them. The first time I went to a Smackdown I was shocked that I was barely hearing any sound from the ring (like guys hitting the mat, turnbuckle or the ref's hand counting a pin) because watching on tv all those years, those sounds were all quite audible.
I can't say for certain, but I'm pretty sure that WWF used some sort of ring mics in the 80s. I used to go to the house shows at the Spectrum every month, and you could definitely hear the bumps through the sound system.
I train at a jiu jitsu school but wrestle in [highspots] ring on the weekends. I'm more use to taking the throws of judo and the bodyslams once or twice a week are harder to adjust or absorb (especially if working ina lowboy ring) the apron is ground level.
The old WWF rings were hard as concrete. I'm glad the talent complained and they went to a flex beam style which is what i believe WCW was using all along. Plus, the ropes make a huge difference as well. If your a crusierweight you'd much rather have the rubber casing around the steel cables to do high flying moves. As opposed to WWE's rings which are rope and you can more easily lose your balance.
@Allen7 I heard from various sources that the WWE became "softer" after the Mankind/Undertaker Hell in a Cell match. As Mankind's bump through the top of the cage looked incredibly stiff.
I've been on a few ring crews and we always started between 12 and 1 for a 5pm show .... 10 am if there is a seminar that day ..... and tightened or re-adjusted before the show
Would love to have Stevie come to the Florida panhandle and test out our ring during a show. Road Dogg and Raven have given a thumbs-up over the last few years.
The speed at which a ring crew can switch a canvas out is astonishing. I know with AEW, they prep ahead of time if they know there is going to be something that stains the canvas they will have multiple canvas's stacked on each other that they can then just tear off.
If WWE didn't clean or replace the canvas in their rings, you'd have a serious problem with guys getting ringworm and other fungal infections. Just think of high school wrestling, where nobody ever cleans the practice mats and the guys all come down with fungal infections.
@@jd9119 Don't be an idiot. High schools would open themselves wide open to lawsuits. If you don't think high school wrestling mats are cleaned, you're a fool.
Any facility that doesn’t clean their mats on a regular basis is just grossly irresponsible. You’re talking about literally putting peoples lives at risk. MRSA is no friggin joke. I’ve been in bjj schools and seen student walking across the mats with shoes on and not getting chastised for it. I straight up left a gym on a couple of occasions because their mats were funky. It’s just not worth it. You get something funky and at the bare minimum, you miss out on training for long enough to lose your momentum. Worst case you get flesh eating virus and end up with a blood infection that kills you…. But hey, who needs to clean the mats? What are you a little girl who can’t get a little dirty? Cmon…. Cleaning us for p ussies.
watching this, around 21:17ish, right after watching RVD's video where he says he sold ECW their primary ring... so perfect. lmao. RVD says it he was told it was an old NWA territory ring.
Never forget the raw where big show took on braun strowman and they "reinforced" the ring and it was just some guy using self tapping screws and screwing pieces of wood to the sides to try and give the effect of reinforcing it haha
I'd love to get confirmation on the height of the top rope, from the canvas. I'm 6'2" and wondering where the top rope comes up to on me. I can't guess from looking at a wrestler who is billed at being 6'2" because the heights are always bumped up to make them appear larger than life in the ring. I'm guessing the ropes are spaced 16" to 18" apart and are about 1.5" tall (not around) so if they're spaced 16" apart, then the top rope should be 52.5" and if the ropes ar 18" apart, then the top rope should be 58.5". But that seems a bit high. That's almost 5 feet. So which is it?
That's interesting. Never considered how the different ring sizes could really throw you off. Muscle memory is gonna seriously screw you if you aren't hyper aware.
Minor ring variations aren't minor. I work for Impact Pro Florida. I'm a big guy (6'8") who enters the ring by stepping over the top rope. One night we had new corner posts that raised the ropes 1" higher than usual. I stepped over the top and crotched myself entering the ring and was very uncomfortable for most of the match.
That's why The Rock focused so much on conditioning his shoulders, he was notorious for pulling his head up and bracing it with his hand. He wouldn't take any number of suplexes or power bombs without holding his head to take the bump.
I helped set up a WWF tv taping at Stable Arena in Bethlehem mid 95, a few days after Mable became KotR. Ended up for a while on ring crew as a gofer .I was surprised that they did have a spring under there, but it was one large one right in the middle where the 4 sides would collapse just a little too....On a side note I may very well be one of the first people to be in a WWF ring (whatever the circumstance) with an ECW shirt :") even if it was just the vacuum bitch.
We also need to talk about rope burn. You get it FAR more often in a WWE ring then you will in say a ECW or WCW ring. Rope burns folks cables are less forgiving for sure. At least in my brief experience they were.
@@Rjensen2 Have you ever been in a ring...? I have MANY times. And until you have don't talk ok. I never said they were made out of rope. You took what i said out of context. They are steel cables with a covering BUT you do get as i said ROPE BURN from running the ropes in drills. Pay attention to what people are saying. Before you make an ass out of yourself...(g)
@@tomtalker2000 Like you just did with this post? You're just some two-bit indy guy that thinks he was "in the business" when you weren't. You likely never made it past wrestling school, and definitely never made your living doing it.
Exclusive content available on Patreon: www.patreon.com/c/stevierichards
Between Stevie Richards, Maven, and post-retirement Undertaker, we have been getting a WEALTH of knowledge and insight lately.
I prefer Stevie. Very humble and down to earth.
@@YamsPhysicalCatalogueOfMedia maven is def shopping channel material.
Stevie's a natural educator too, like the way he asks the interviewer how he thinks some of his own questions should be answered.
@@matturner6890 Maven was a legit teacher though lol
Where did all of Stevie's videos go?!!!
Stevie is quickly becoming my favorite wrestling podcast. He’d make one hell of a trainer. If he’s not doing it already.
Good to see the audience is growing. Well deserved.
I attended my first WWE PPV earlier this year (Elimination Chamber. Perth, Australia). The way the ring crew changed the ring mat was both amazing and surprising. Amazing in the efficiency of the crew, and surprising because you rarely think about this while watching on a television.
I remember seeing it as a security guard
This is the nerdiest of the nerd wrestling content, and I'm all for it!
That would be OSW revIew sir! What Bar! is Stevie?
@@RandallBallsThose guys are legends
I could listen to Stevie all day talk about wrestling.
Always loved stevie's superkick, so crisp 👌
It’s great to hear the personal experience from someone who has worked in various “TV” rings. I look forward to more on this topic.
I really liked the WCW rings. I loved the sound from them and how much bounce they had when people were slammed on them. I know the WCW wrestlers had a hard time adjusting to the stiffness of the WWE rings.
Same here, I loved that sound that the WCW rings made.
Yes ! The rings from Georgia Championship Wrestling on WTBS in the early 80's. Those rings had a cool sound like a snare drum and the bounce looked cool. I wanted to jump in one and do some bumps.
Same. I wish AEW or WWE would try to improve the sound of the ring more to make it sound more like an old WCW ring.
It would be do-able with correct microphone type and placement.
What’s your thoughts on the old ECW rings? I reckon they had a great sound and bounce.
I just wish they was bigger they looked so tiny
This really feels like a peak behind the curtain. Loved Stevie's gimmick with Right to Censor, never expected him to become one of the best Wrestling content creators as well, but I'm all for it!
We need a Stevie Richards vs Maven Wrestlemania Showdown. The Battle of the TH-camrs
Guest appearance, TH-cam undertaker
@@downtownbosscat special guest referee
Dutch Mantell has to be the special guest referee
Maven can get his stuff in, but Stevie goes over.
@@AndrewOlsonTV Maven probably can't even do his signature high drop kick anymore lmao
My god this man is a treasure chest of knowledge! Anyone would be lucky to learn the business under your guidance dude! Straight up one of the best!
Him & James ! The knowledge Dutch gave that kid he legit could run a territory
I love hearing Stevie talk about behind the scenes. Cheers all 👍
He really is a nice guy. I was surprised when I 1st heard him be himself
It's fascinating to watch you and Maven's postcasts cause you talk about the stuff i've been wondering for yrs. Many wrestlers have talked about how scripted the shows are, but you talk about what happens backstage and opinions on stuff that most don't :)
Everybody did shoot interviews. They brought a new thing. Analysis
James, Stevie, I'm really enjoying this series. I've never been a big Stevie fan, but he's shown such vulnerability and kind temperament through this series that he's one of my favorites now. James, I've been following your growth for some years now. You've worked hard to earn the trust of these people, to present a good-looking and good-sounding production, and ... well, humanity. You've transcended wrestling nerd fandom and have brought a kind, patient, thoughtful, reflective flavour to shoot interviews. Stevie, your Shawn Michaels story brought me to tears. Thank you for sharing of yourself.
Stevie you and I have met several times at Costco in Waterbury, and on the independent shows that I was either at or putting on. I’m really glad to see you started your own show. You’re an amazing talent and amazing person. I really love how you explained people who might not know the differences between companies and rings. I’m gonna watch the rest of your videos. I’m looking forward and thinking about getting back into this business on the independent level maybe you and I could talk, I’ve been out of the business since 2009 and I miss it every day man. I ran independent company World Class Wrestling Alliance WCWA. I’m so happy I was able to come across your video.
Hope Stevie and James get some following on this. Stevie is great at explaining (and seems a tremendously nice bloke) and I do appreciate the production quality being so high.
22:58 - I love it and nothing ruins it more than an announcer that will not shut up and let the sounds of action, character and impact come out. That's why I like watching Japan's promotions like Marigold or Stardom when they have no announcer.
This in my new favorite channel on youtube. And this man is really beautiful inside and out!
I love getting into the technical aspects of the rings. I have a fascination with the types, styles, sounds etc and how they vary across promotions and countries.
I've wrestled in a few small promotions in the UK. Biggest I wrestled in was 16ft with a spring. It was loud, gave a great bounce but could easily bite back.
Smallest was a 12ft. It was great to bump in, but the size was really limiting, unless you kept big bumps to a minimum.
I grew to really like the 16ft ring due to the extra space for spots, but also using the space to really sell to the crowd.
It makes sense for WWE to have rings for their European tours. Never thought of it, but you go over there 1 or 2 times a year you don't want to have to rent a ring and hope it's good quality. Cheaper and safer in the long run to buy some rings and keep them in storage for most of the year.
Yep. That’s exactly why they did it, was getting too much to ship rings in every time and injuries by below par rented rings were a worry. Im almost sure Germany was one of the first places in Europe they had a bought wwe ring there .
Thanks!
Thank you!
Stevie is a joy to listen to! He & James are fabulous!
Is Stevie richards one of the best presenters on TH-cam now? The pairing with him and James is gold
Thanks for another great video Stevie! i love these type of videos!
great segment. it really reminded me of matches with barry windham and dustin rhodes (early 90s wcw). both guys are 6'6+, and could do nearly every move imaginable. you could see how much they had to work to get all the moves to fit within the confines of the ring. it was incredible because their pace was just outrageous to get all the moves in and timing them to not have the ring ropes negatively impact the work.
it's really fascinating talk. i was watching a wwf match from '83. it was snuka and maybe andre vs the samoans. the ropes were perhaps too high or snuka just wasn't thinking but when he whipped by the samoan to the ropes while holding afa in the headlock he actually missed the top rope and sort of crouched down with afa in the headlock and took what looked like a really awkward bounce of the second rope.
those little things. Great stuff guys!!
You mentioned at 11:19 if you drop on a bolt or something there goes your back. That is similarly what happened to Davey Boy hitting that metal trap door in WCW, destroying his back. RIP Bulldog.
rick rude had a similar thing in japan when they had those wooden things outside the ring. crushed his back and he finished the match.
What happened to Davey was completely avoidable. Since a WarGames match was going to happen, just have them wrestle in the other ring or tell the guys to watch out for that spot.
@@TheForeverRangerYeah it was total ignorance and carelessness on the promotion that caused Bulldog's injury.
Love the videos Stevie keep them coming 🎉 I am the TABLE!!!
I love listening to Stevie Richards talking about wrestling and the in and outs , etc ‼️💯🔥
16:20 yes they did have a different size ring sometimes. They had a small 10x10 or 12x12 ring in Prince Edward Island for a house show in the early-mid 2000s at the Charlottetown Civic Center. The only show ive ever been to.
No screens, entrance ramp, they didnt even set up their own sound system. You couldnt make out whos music it was, no pyro or lights. Just picture Kane coming out of a penalty box entrance, out to the concrete floor, to the ring, then bring his arms up, drop them, and nothing happens 😂. Rey Mysterio was there too, there were a few cool names. I think Hurricane was there, and RVD too, But yeah the ring was tiny and as a kid i was kind of let down by the lack of effort. 😂
Oh jeez haha
You always want to have your large bumps in the center. Where the most give is with the center spring underneath. Any bump outside of that radius is MUCH harder on your body for sure. No matter what style of ring your in. Plus, the wood used under the mat makes a huge difference as well.
I wanna hear Stevie talk about his favorite video games over the years, for real!
I have bumped both in a stiff boxing ring and a ring that had give and man the difference in how your body recovers differently. Took longer to recover from the boxing style ring. Also I prefer the ropes versus cable only for the fact that the cable felt like it was punching back everytime I came off of them. The rope style felt less brutal. Only say this cause I had massive bruises on my lower back running the cable ropes. Great video topic and it gave me some reflection on my time in the ring and never actually thought about the differences until now. Love The Show🤘
Steven Richards and his work made me love wrestling even more. Stevie and Mikey Whipwreck and RVD.
Speaking of checking the tightness of the ropes... I always laugh looking back at Randy Savage WWF footage when he'd go for the elbow drop, the ropes were so loose that him standing up there would bend the top turnbuckle all the way down to the middle rope sometimes.
So glad stevie and James have decided to work together , been a fan of both for a while . Stevie is genuinely one of the nicest guys ever and for me he speaks so much sense and also he’s honest, he tries to be kind , doesn’t constantly want to bitch and moan about everyone else and remember he was very ill not long ago , the fact he’s doing what he’s doing now actually proves how tough he really is, he couldn’t walk not long ago, think about it , massive credit to him.
James really does deserve credit too, he’s worked his ass off cot a whole time do what he’s doing. Hes writing books , making podcasts , all at his expense without a big company or massive money behind him , that’s quite a scary thing at first I’d imagine,
I hope these two go on to get bigger and bigger , personally they are fast becoming the very best for me .
A special request James gets in the ring and does some training with stevie and takes one move from Dutch 😂
Stevie, thank you so much for these vids! Been a fan since ECW
Great dynamic lads. Never heard the 'star' of a podcast say 'I sent you something on that' on every new point. It shows that Stevie gives a toss and that he's meticulous.
Great pick up James. Glad to say I have a new podcast to listen to.
All the best.
Plate aluminum wouldn't dent from anything the wrestlers would do to them. You would need to hit it with a compact object, like a hammer, to dent it. I was grid crew for many concerts using a structure to hang lighting and speakers, "the grid". The structure was aluminum. You can build something with the same strength as steel with about 1/3rd the weight with aluminum. Aluminum diamond plate, what those steps appear to be made of, is very common. I've not touched those steps, but I highly doubt that they are in fact steel. There would be no benefit from them being steel over aluminum.
Saw a video where two cameras were under the ring for the entire match.
There's two mics for the sound. The cameras show the plywood has springs
attached like a trampoline to absorb the bumps. It's loud under the ring because
it works like a drum to amplify the sound. The wrestlers stomp their feet for max noise.
Manufacturers must sell a safe product but the installers have to know what their doing.
The "Ropes" (actually cable with a plastic or cloth covering) must not be too tight or loose.
Obviously the turnbuckles must be properly padded. There are enough injuries without
faulty or improperly installed equipment.
The older WWF Rings had a spring in the middle and plywood and those rings where the worst to bump in (the spring was too stiff and would not give good bounce) then they switched to Flexbeams and Boards and that gave a much better bump. Those are the rings you see on WWE and AEW today
i thought they are still using the spring?
When I ref'd on the indie circuit in the 90s, I always would alert the wrestlers to any abnormalities. They always appreciated it. Often times I'd be the only ref, so I'd be out there for the whole show. So, I'd get a good idea where there were hazards. I remember Greg Valentine thanking me after a show for pointing out a hole near a corner. I told him while I pretending to "go over the rules" before the match. He made me feel like I saved his career. lol BTW, I ref'd many Stevie Richards matches. He was always very kind as you can see in these videos.
Stevie talks a lot of sense. I’m a small time independent wrestler and everything he says sounds 👍👌
Never a huge fan of his back in the day, but I really appreciate his insight and take. Big fan now.
i cant get enough of this new show, listened to all the eps , i grew up in the uk and we did not have sky tv at home so Heat on sunday on channel 4 was my shit, right to censor theme forever stuck in my head lol.
This is amazing!! I am always so curious about rings and very little info out there.
I never knew I wanted to know this much about the workings and structure of wrestling rings until now.
This is great stuff.... always liked Stevie since going to ECW house shows in the 90's. I remember Spike Dudley was on the ring crew too and would be breaking it down and loading it out after the shows.
Edit...BWO!
This video is really entertaining and informative. Love it.
I used to ride in the Ring Truck with Rex, (Kirk White's Big Time Wrestling, Newark CA) and help set the ring up with Pam Martinez aka Bayley when she worked as Davina Rose. I was properly hazed. Never let the Ropes Touch the Ground!
Stevie turning into Dr House as he gets older.
Man's like a fine wine
"maybe half a gram." "You can't buy me with that,maybe a video game." Lol Stevie's funnier than I remember lol
I worked for IWF. They used carpet foam and carpet. The boards were warped. Hurt to bump on. Great show fellas.
Stevie is like the classic 'guy who wasn't good, but because he wasn't good, he thinks of every single, solitary, piece of minutia because he had to just in order to compete' - and is a master communicator who can explain this stuff to colossal idiots like us. He's like the classic MLB journeyman like an Alex Cora who is like a mastermind manager/coach/explainer. This is so valuable and fun.
I know it's a small amount bro, but huge wrestling fan from Australia
Seen you in my childhood, loved the entrance video You'll see and the Stevie kick and being in drag with Victoria 😅
Would love a 5mins video chat with you!!! Would make my day please let me know how much
Take care Michael
Thank you! Stevie isn't doing one to ones at this time, but there may be an option soon on Stevie's Patreon coming in the nearish future.
another great video. ive always heard the same about SNME episodes being a driver for some of the decisions around ring construction
I always wondered what would they do if the ring broke during a royal rumble match. They are live on TV and the ring is broken.
Imo WWF/WWE always had a lively sounding ring and WCW had almost a dry lumber sound.. like you could hear the 2x4 bouncing under the mat of WCW lol. Till this day if I heard someone taking a bump in a WWF ring or a WCW ring without seeing it I will be able to tell which ring belongs to what company based off the sound.
true, i never liked the sound of WCW ring, didnt sound that impactful like ECW and WWf back in the day
I love hearing about the rings and the differences between them. I heard early WWF ones were really tough while WCW ones were much nicer. This is such good shit, pal!
A long time ago when I was training to be a wrestler Stevie was a guest instructor and a lot of what he is saying in this video he said back then. The ring I trained in was a 16 footer and it was crazy trying to work a spot with him in a 16 footer where he is in the center and Irish whips me rope to rope. I took what he taught me and I always tested every ring I ever been in. Many “promoters” hated me when I refused to bump in their unsafe ring. If they rented a ring that was unsafe, same thing. They hated when I refused to bump in the unsafe ring they were renting.
If you're looking for the WWE documentary on ring creation, here's the link: th-cam.com/video/8YfBi8-Bwgs/w-d-xo.html
The guy in charge is really passionate about what he does, I love that. Somebody commented that the documentary should have been 30+ minutes rather than like 7, I agree. This stuff is fascinating to a lot of people, which is why I think you'll find this Stevie video will get a lot of views.
Thank you so much
Thank you so much for posting.
I was looking for this 💪
Love this set up. Great stuff guys.
I was lucky enough to volunteer for an indie company when I was a teenager. One of the wrestlers let me in the ring and hit me with a suplex and an Irish whip. I was also allowed to take home the trash can they hit each other with during a different show.
The inside info is great. Thanks.
Savage did such creative things with the ropes you thought it was going to become the style then, but only now is it bigger factor on tv and people like Iyo brilliantly never trust the rope tension so she's always adapting most efficient ways to use them, similar to Riccochet, Ospreay.
Every worker has a rope breaking story.
Listen to each and every one of them.
Thanks for the discussion. I've always been curious about the production aspect of wrestling, & rings are something that unless you're in the business, you won't have much access to understand what goes into them. I've got to imagine that most wrestlers would prefer the 20x20 ring.
Stevie, I’d love to have you at CWF in Pensacola/Milton one day. I think you’d really appreciate our process and could teach us and our guys a lot. Damn I love this channel lol
love the content like mavens channel :) awesome to see wrestlers from my childhood like this 💯🙏
Ring stairs are most definitely aluminum. Aluminum doesn't always "bend" (see: AIRPLANES) Aluminum is much lighter for transport purposes and cheaper as well. It's diamond tread aluminum like used to make tool boxes for truck beds. You can literally see the diamond tread on them.
WWE rings have to have microphones in them. The first time I went to a Smackdown I was shocked that I was barely hearing any sound from the ring (like guys hitting the mat, turnbuckle or the ref's hand counting a pin) because watching on tv all those years, those sounds were all quite audible.
I can't say for certain, but I'm pretty sure that WWF used some sort of ring mics in the 80s. I used to go to the house shows at the Spectrum every month, and you could definitely hear the bumps through the sound system.
I watched them put a ring together at a World Class Wrestling match. It was all wood except the ring post.
What an informative video!
I train at a jiu jitsu school but wrestle in [highspots] ring on the weekends.
I'm more use to taking the throws of judo and the bodyslams once or twice a week are harder to adjust or absorb (especially if working ina lowboy ring) the apron is ground level.
I was at WrestleMania III in the nose bleed seats and there was definitely a mic under the ring. Every move echoed throughout the Silverdome.
Love the content guys!
Keep up the great work
The old WWF rings were hard as concrete. I'm glad the talent complained and they went to a flex beam style which is what i believe WCW was using all along. Plus, the ropes make a huge difference as well. If your a crusierweight you'd much rather have the rubber casing around the steel cables to do high flying moves. As opposed to WWE's rings which are rope and you can more easily lose your balance.
The TNA 6-sided ring was notoriously hard as well.
hard as concrete untill what year? as i remember they made it softer when vince mcmahon started taking bumps...i guess 1998?
@Allen7 I heard from various sources that the WWE became "softer" after the Mankind/Undertaker Hell in a Cell match. As Mankind's bump through the top of the cage looked incredibly stiff.
i always loved how the WWF and WCW rings sounded in the 80/90s
I've been on a few ring crews and we always started between 12 and 1 for a 5pm show .... 10 am if there is a seminar that day ..... and tightened or re-adjusted before the show
Would love to have Stevie come to the Florida panhandle and test out our ring during a show. Road Dogg and Raven have given a thumbs-up over the last few years.
0:46 everyone who's ever talked about the TNA 6 sides always says how hard it is on the body. Would love that deep dive videos
It was shorter sided so stiffer, it should of been bigger.
i worked wwe's ring crew a few different times and the steel stairs are crazy heavy
How heavy do you think they are? They look pretty light on screen because of how thin they are
You mean the aluminum stairs
They are easily 150-200 pounds. I train at ROW
@@lebrontoraptors2191 easily a couple hundred pounds if between both sets
Really enjoying your videos Stevie. Your very knowledgeable and it's fascinating learning more about the inner workings of wrestling!
The speed at which a ring crew can switch a canvas out is astonishing. I know with AEW, they prep ahead of time if they know there is going to be something that stains the canvas they will have multiple canvas's stacked on each other that they can then just tear off.
If WWE didn't clean or replace the canvas in their rings, you'd have a serious problem with guys getting ringworm and other fungal infections. Just think of high school wrestling, where nobody ever cleans the practice mats and the guys all come down with fungal infections.
Wow, you really don't know very much. Wrestling mats in school are cleaned all of the time.
@@Rjensen2 LOL, I don't know what school you went to.
@@jd9119 Don't be an idiot.
High schools would open themselves wide open to lawsuits.
If you don't think high school wrestling mats are cleaned, you're a fool.
@@Rjensen2maybe yours was, lol. You're experience doesn't make it the truth 100% of the time.
Any facility that doesn’t clean their mats on a regular basis is just grossly irresponsible. You’re talking about literally putting peoples lives at risk. MRSA is no friggin joke. I’ve been in bjj schools and seen student walking across the mats with shoes on and not getting chastised for it. I straight up left a gym on a couple of occasions because their mats were funky. It’s just not worth it. You get something funky and at the bare minimum, you miss out on training for long enough to lose your momentum. Worst case you get flesh eating virus and end up with a blood infection that kills you…. But hey, who needs to clean the mats? What are you a little girl who can’t get a little dirty? Cmon…. Cleaning us for p ussies.
watching this, around 21:17ish, right after watching RVD's video where he says he sold ECW their primary ring... so perfect. lmao. RVD says it he was told it was an old NWA territory ring.
Never forget the raw where big show took on braun strowman and they "reinforced" the ring and it was just some guy using self tapping screws and screwing pieces of wood to the sides to try and give the effect of reinforcing it haha
I'd love to get confirmation on the height of the top rope, from the canvas. I'm 6'2" and wondering where the top rope comes up to on me. I can't guess from looking at a wrestler who is billed at being 6'2" because the heights are always bumped up to make them appear larger than life in the ring. I'm guessing the ropes are spaced 16" to 18" apart and are about 1.5" tall (not around) so if they're spaced 16" apart, then the top rope should be 52.5" and if the ropes ar 18" apart, then the top rope should be 58.5". But that seems a bit high. That's almost 5 feet. So which is it?
I Love this Show!😊
That's interesting. Never considered how the different ring sizes could really throw you off. Muscle memory is gonna seriously screw you if you aren't hyper aware.
Watching referee Daichi Murayama manage the physical ring is 1 of my favorite things to see.
Minor ring variations aren't minor. I work for Impact Pro Florida. I'm a big guy (6'8") who enters the ring by stepping over the top rope. One night we had new corner posts that raised the ropes 1" higher than usual. I stepped over the top and crotched myself entering the ring and was very uncomfortable for most of the match.
That's why The Rock focused so much on conditioning his shoulders, he was notorious for pulling his head up and bracing it with his hand. He wouldn't take any number of suplexes or power bombs without holding his head to take the bump.
I helped set up a WWF tv taping at Stable Arena in Bethlehem mid 95, a few days after Mable became KotR. Ended up for a while on ring crew as a gofer .I was surprised that they did have a spring under there, but it was one large one right in the middle where the 4 sides would collapse just a little too....On a side note I may very well be one of the first people to be in a WWF ring (whatever the circumstance) with an ECW shirt :") even if it was just the vacuum bitch.
We also need to talk about rope burn. You get it FAR more often in a WWE ring then you will in say a ECW or WCW ring. Rope burns folks cables are less forgiving for sure. At least in my brief experience they were.
Lmao since when does WWE use bare rope?
@@Rjensen2 At least since Jim Cornette was there in the 90s. He's talked about it many times
@@theophrastusbombastus1359 Uh, they don't use bare rope.
Haven't you noticed the tape around them? 🤣🤣🤣
@@Rjensen2 Have you ever been in a ring...? I have MANY times. And until you have don't talk ok. I never said they were made out of rope. You took what i said out of context. They are steel cables with a covering BUT you do get as i said ROPE BURN from running the ropes in drills. Pay attention to what people are saying. Before you make an ass out of yourself...(g)
@@tomtalker2000 Like you just did with this post?
You're just some two-bit indy guy that thinks he was "in the business" when you weren't.
You likely never made it past wrestling school, and definitely never made your living doing it.
Stevie should open a school if he hasn't already his knowledge is fucking brilliant too listen too.
Have to say blue tarp, out doors, raining thunderstorm. Yep. Been there.
Lol yes they mic rings i was indie crew years ago and we did