Independent wrestling, from the folding table.
The Card Is Going To Change is a working diary of Absolute Intense Wrestling, built around show-week previews and the practical pressure of running AIW. Its best moments come when card talk gives way to venue anxiety, ticket dread, recording mishaps, and memories from chaotic independent wrestling nights.
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The Card Is Going To Change is an inside account of Absolute Intense Wrestling as it is being assembled in real time. It focuses on independent wrestling, but its real subject is the strain and absurdity of keeping a promotion moving. Episodes often begin with ordinary friction. A recorder fails. A call gets missed. Someone has worked late, moved houses, or lost an hour to a software update. Then the conversation turns toward the next AIW show, and the everyday stress becomes part of the larger story. John Thorne appears as the AIW owner, talking through tickets, venues, talent, card construction, and the uncomfortable math behind a big wrestling weekend. The show is strongest when it lets that tension breathe. A Cultivate 2 preview becomes a discussion of weak advance sales and a difficult entertainment market. An Out Cold preview lingers on the feel of Penguin City Brewing in Youngstown, a brighter and more open room than AIW’s usual darker club spaces. A JLIT preview recalls a trip through rural roads to a Wrestling Eruption event with Jimmy Hart, where uncertainty gave way to a larger-than-expected setup in a cornfield. Documentary episodes add another layer, with Adam Wilde explaining how Slow Burn Shoot grew out of encountering AIW on Johnny Gargano’s last night there. Training-school conversations bring in Jesse Blair and show how refereeing, practice matches, nerves, and feedback shape the next wave around the promotion. The pacing is conversational and unguarded. It can be funny, weary, anxious, and practical within the same few minutes. For listeners who want only results, it may feel too granular. For independent wrestling fans who care about the machinery behind the curtain, that granularity is the appeal. The show turns card previews into a promoter’s diary, where every venue, crowd, delay, and gamble matters.
Made for: For AIW followers and independent wrestling fans who want more than match announcements. It suits listeners interested in promotion logistics, venue culture, training-school stories, and the anxious business of getting people through the door.
What sets it apart: The show’s edge is its promoter-level candor: ticket worries, venue reads, documentary backstory, and show-week chaos sit beside card previews. It sounds less like coverage from outside AIW and more like the room where the event is being figured out.
An unprecedented honest look inside the world of Independent professional wrestling as the promoters of Absolute Intense Wrestling John Thorne and Chris "Chandler Biggins" Bryan join Steve Guy to discuss the trials and tribulations of operating a independent professional wrestling company in the modern era.
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
AIW graduate Jesse Blair talks practice, timing and ring awareness as his referee debut approaches.
AIW graduate Jesse Blair, known to fans as JV, talks through roughly 18 months of training as his referee debut draws near. Dustin Alberti keeps the focus on work that spectators can easily miss: tracking the action, staying in position and taking time cues through an earpiece,…
A profane look at WCW's 1998 Dating Game oddity, with Chris Jericho turning archival weirdness into the main event.
The hook is a strange little pocket of television archaeology: wrestlers folded into a 1998 Dating Game setup where the bachelorette has not been told what they do.
A candid AIW preview where early technical chaos gives way to an intriguingly unpredictable four-way.
AIW's preview pod finds its shape after a rough technical opening, settling into a candid conversation about what can come from uncertainty. Ronald Two Legs and AIW owner John Thorne move from software trouble into Thorne's broader interest in creating opportunities, which gives…
Backstage wrestling history, argued out loud.
Wrestling history with booking receipts.
Fast wrestling takes, louder booking logic.
Old-school wrestling logic meets today’s booking wars.
Wrestling news before it settles.
Wrestling memory lane, ribs included.
Ronald Two Legs and John Thorne preview the JLIT 2024 event and discuss their recent experience at a Wrestling Eruption show in a cornfield.
A live roundtable review of Absolution 18 wrestling event with host Ronald Two Legs, AIW owner John Thorne, and roster members Duke and Dominic Greeny.
John Thorne warns that AIW may stop booking big-name wrestlers like Priscilla Kelly and Mike Santana if ticket sales don't improve.
Discover the bizarre 1998 Dating Game episode where WCW wrestlers Billy Kidman, Disco Inferno, and Chris Jericho competed for a date.
John Thorne and Ronald Two Legs revisit Pat Tanaka's missed Akron booking, including a $10,000-plus event loss and Tanaka's disputed travel explanations.
Ronald Two Legs and John Thorne preview AIW's Gauntlet For The Gold 19 event, discussing their sober St.
Director Adam Wilde discusses the making of his documentary 'Slow Burn Shoot' about Absolute Intense Wrestling, including how he discovered the promotion.
Ronald Two Legs and John Thorne preview AIW's Cultivate 2 event, discussing low ticket sales and concerns about the wrestling business.
Ronald Two Legs and John Thorne preview the upcoming AIW 'Out Cold' event in Youngstown, discussing technical difficulties and the venue.
Ronald Twolegs and John Thorne chat about scheduling issues, moving, and security deposits in a preview for an upcoming wrestling podcast episode.
Dustin Alberti interviews AIW graduates Jesse Blair, Ben Hines, Alonzo Cruz, and Rudy Ray Woods about their wrestling-school paths and upcoming debuts.
Ronald Two Legs and John Thorne preview AIW’s Hell on Earth 20, an event they identify as the promotion’s longest-running annual show.
Ronald Two Legs, John Thorne, Lee Marshall, and Dom Guarini discuss AIW's December 12 Cultivate event at the Roxy, where tickets range from $15 general admission to $25 front row.
Ronald Two Legs and AIW owner John Thorne examine weak attendance for the J-Lit tournament, including why a card with homegrown wrestlers, former WWE performers, and independent names still struggled.
Ronald Two Legs and John Thorne preview JLIT 2024 and discuss their recent experience at Wrestling Eruption in a cornfield.
AIW owner John Thorn and host Ronald Two Legs preview the Summerslam weekend event, expressing anxiety over low ticket sales despite a strong lineup.
The Duke and John Thorne host a preview podcast for Absolution 17, discussing their history and promoting the event.