Gospel of Thomas O'Shay Edwards - A Big, Bad Kaidju with a Bomaye Heart

February 17, 2026·1 hr 16 min·6 clips

Jeff Lippman introduces the Garden of Thought as a dimension exploring the unknown, mythology, and imagination.

1. Garden of Thought host Jeff Flitman reunites with frequent guest Thomas and introduces pro wrestler O'Shea Edwards for a free-ranging conversation about wrestling, music, food, and culture. 2. O'Shea Edwards is a professional wrestler formerly aligned with the Bumaye Fight Club and Shane Taylor Promotions; Thomas is a recurring podcast guest and former MLW faction member who has known O'Shea since their time together at 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. 3. The episode's loose thesis is that wrestling is simple — connecting with a crowd is unteachable — but industry gatekeepers and fan toxicity have complicated what should be a straightforward entertainment business. 4. O'Shea and Thomas first met at an MLW taping at 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, introduced through a mutual contact who vouched for O'Shea; the friendship solidified over jokes in a back room during long taping days. 5. The group discusses their fading interest in weekly WWE television, with O'Shea saying he watches selectively for friends on the roster and Thomas noting he mostly follows independent wrestling. 6. O'Shea credits the Roman Reigns vs. CM Punk promo as the last moment that genuinely hooked him, saying 'that felt real' and that manufactured storylines no longer hold his attention. 7. O'Shea explains he stopped consuming wrestling commentary on Twitter because fans who 'have never taken a bump' dominate discourse and made it impossible to be a casual fan. 8. Jeff raises the question of why O'Shea vs. Sho-To has not been booked, and O'Shea responds: 'People are afraid of money.' 9. O'Shea names Manders as his top current recommendation, calling him 'the best man on the independents,' followed by Darius Carter, whom he calls 'a heel's heel' and 'criminally underrated.' 10. O'Shea and Thomas agree that Darius Carter's race is the primary barrier to his advancement, with O'Shea saying directly 'we don't have the winning complexion' and Jeff noting Carter receives no comparable New England bookings despite sharing MJF's New York base. 11. PB Smooth is cited as a positive counterexample — he was recently picked up by AEW, facilitated by EC3 sponsoring him — though O'Shea frames this as the exception. 12. O'Shea praises Jay Newman ('just got hurt but making his way back') and Derrick Neal ('the last grown man in the indies') as two more examples of overlooked Southern-circuit talent. 13. The music tangent is anchored by a debate about whether people are musically frozen in the era when they were 'hottest' — high school and early driver's license years — with all three agreeing this describes their own listening habits. 14. O'Shea says TikTok and Spotify's recommendation engine have opened him to new genres, and he describes discovering 'elephant music' — epic orchestral film soundtrack compositions from movies like Inception — as a new productivity and creative focus aid. 15. Jeff mentions discovering Modest Mouse's 'Float On' in a suburban Outfitter's store in Towson, Maryland after hearing it sampled in Nas's 'Hip Hop Is Dead.' 16. The Kid Rock vs. Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime controversy is dismissed by all three as a non-issue manufactured for engagement — Thomas notes the actual ratio is '134.5 million to 5 million' and says most people simply don't care. 17. Jeff admits O'Shea's partner in a two-thirds Ecuadorian household was 'very excited about Bad Bunny,' undermining Thomas's earlier claim of never having heard a Bad Bunny song. 18. The tone throughout is conversational and uncensored, with frequent profanity, rapid subject changes, and long tangential anecdotes; the episode functions as a hangout podcast with wrestling as a loose home base. 19. Listeners who follow independent wrestling and enjoy unscripted industry commentary will find the most value here. 20. Those expecting structured wrestling analysis, kayfabe discussion, or major-promotion focus will likely find the episode too digressive.

As heard by us

A loose wrestling-adjacent hangout where food talk, drinks, and side jokes do most of the work.

The episode comes off like a loose reunion, built from wrestling banter, food preferences, and a few sharply specific running jokes. Thomas is back on the pod after a long absence, the drinks stay in the mix, and a cheesesteak debate turns into its own small scene without…

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Why you'd press play

You want a wrestling-adjacent hangout that treats cheesesteaks like character evidence.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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