The Evolution of Women's Wrestling Gear With Scarlett Harris | Powerbombshells

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[SPEAKER_01]: Hi, this is Sam Shipman for Power Bombshells, and you're listening to an exclusive interview with author and writer Scarlet Harris.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We discuss the evolution of women's wrestling gear, specifically with the inaugural women's Royal Rumble match in Saudi Arabia, and costs the safety of a special gear to meet cultural and religious standards.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We hope that you enjoy this interview, and be sure to check us out on Dave's lab at 1pm Eastern Time on the Fiking Media YouTube channel.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Hi everyone, welcome to a special interview for Power Bombshells.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I am Sam, that is Scarlet Harris, who is the author of a Diva was the female version of a wrestler and abbreviated, I'm sorry, abbreviated her three of world wrestling entertainment and also the editor of the woman of Jinji Kohan.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Scarlet's work has also appeared in the LA Times, Jezebel, BBC, time, the Daily Beast and much more.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for being with us today.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for having me say I'm excited to be here.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, and so Carla and I actually met several years ago when I interviewed her for her book that I was mentioning.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I'd be the, what's the few versions of a wrestler and we had a really great conversation and is that book still available for people to get.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, it's still available through Fayetteville, Mafia Press, which is the publisher, and that would be preferable to the bad place, but I believe it's also available there.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, please, if you can, please don't go to the bad place.

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[SPEAKER_01]: If you can help it, but we understand sometimes things to get that, but if at all possible.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Definitely try to support other forms of getting getting books.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So, as this is a wrestling podcast, I want to start off with how did you get into wrestling especially being an Australia?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Um, the way most people do, I think, being shown it, um, you know, take trading, like after school at a friend's house.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and, uh, yeah, I just stayed with it, um, a lot longer than, you know, everyone else.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and eventually made a career out of it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And so how has over that time, how has your fandom change and has your career affected your fandom?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, very much so obviously when I got into it, that was like the heyday of like the attitude era and stuff and you know the representation of women wasn't great.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Although, you know, I guess I wasn't necessarily thinking about at the time.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And then, you know, sort of fell out of love with it for a few years and kind of started getting back into it around total divas and then the women's wrestling evolution.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, by that time, I'd, you know, identified as a feminist.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I was writing, you know, feminist articles and stuff.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So those two kind of things coalesced and yes, very much changed my perception of wrestling.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's I feel like for a lot of us, it's a kind of love hate relationship hate a lot of times and it's you know increasingly more so so you know sometimes I wish I could go back and like not look at things through like a social justice lens whether that be wrestling or just like anything it'd be great to just put your head in the sand sometimes and not have to

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[SPEAKER_00]: look at everything that way, but yeah, you know, you can't really turn it off now.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I completely, I completely understand on the same way, sometimes I wish I'm like, wow, wish I didn't watch wrestling or consume media in this, in this way, because sometimes it makes it difficult to enjoy or you see these things that are happening and I wish I could

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[SPEAKER_01]: I know that I have a platform that I can use to talk about these things and bring attention to it, especially when people want to, and I get it, I understand it's socially now on this dumpster fire.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That, you know, it's happening.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It's, you know, that you're too used.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you want to use wrestling in particular as in the case, but also,

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[SPEAKER_01]: They are going to places like Saudi Arabia, and they're participating in sports watching, and then you have, you know, all kinds of things that are happening, just in the wrestling, and it's only been, I think, I guess now will be, we're only

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[SPEAKER_01]: not quite six years removed from speaking out, but then you have wrestlers who are still trying to get involved.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We had in the situation last week where somebody who was named and speaking out posted a picture with a very popular wrestler in AW and then also they had at backstage.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They had some wrestlers named and speaking out who were hanging out backstage and it's like, do you people need a refresher course and who was named and speaking out?

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[SPEAKER_01]: So it's just so they give us it's hard to look away when they are kind of putting it in our faces still and so it's just but yeah like we said we at least now have platforms and where people some people will appreciate what we're doing or saying what we're talking about and and it is like you say I mean it is something.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes you do critique the things that you love, it's because you love them that you want them to be better and to do better.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's not like we're critiquing them from a place of like because we hate it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It's because we love it so much that we want it to be better and to improve it all that stuff.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So it's certainly going to be a very difficult thing and especially like you said,

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[SPEAKER_01]: once you start viewing things through a different lens, it definitely wasn't affordable.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And then going back to your fandom, I believe you went to WrestleMania, correct the one where the women may have been said, how was that, like being a wrestling fan at that time?

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[SPEAKER_01]: Like what was that like?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, it was pretty crazy and kind of perfect.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And I would never do it again.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Not least of all because I will never go to the US again, at least well things are the way they are.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But you know, like it was a whole week of wrestling and as a, you know, introvert with social anxiety, I was like, yeah, cool, but I'm never going to do that again.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and I met like a whole bunch of awesome, um, you know, wrestling people from from the US, um, I'm sure, like people that people, um, listening to your podcast would recognize, um, from the internet.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so it was, it was a lot of fun and it was kind of a perfect that it did happen to be the first women's main event.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I had already planned to go to WrestleMania regardless being in New York, my favorite city.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, all right, cool.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I'm, well, sorry, excuse me, New Jersey, but, you know, market market as, as New York.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, I'm already going, like, I had already planned it for years, and then, you know,

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[SPEAKER_00]: summer, survive a series the year before like they started to be.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Some whispers about maybe Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey would be like the first women's main event and I was like hell yeah this is all gonna coalesce and be absolutely perfect.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Of course it was WWE so they just wanted to have like so many fingers in the pot and ruined it by you know putting Charlotte flare in there

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[SPEAKER_00]: um, you know, just having like all of those stories going on that didn't quite work.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Um, right.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Kind of.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe ruined it a little bit for me having all of the women's titles in the one match instead of you know spreading them out across the roster was also annoying to me.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And then the finish like wasn't that great.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It also ran over like several hours and by the time we got out of there it was raining and we couldn't get an Uber and I think I was home like by like two AM or something.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So wow.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you know, like probably would have been all, you know, more fun to kind of just watch it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: All right, but you know, now I can say I've been to WrestleMania and how many people can say that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So right.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, WrestleMania was a bucket list out of both my, but then things have changed within that company and if I can help it, I will never give them my money again.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So that is no longer a bucket list item for me, but it was for a while, but it's cool though that you got to have the experience and to be there for that because you can say I was there for the first woman's main event, and then of course since then, you know, it doesn't look like women will be main event in WrestleMania any time soon, just say because of the way booking is in the way that they are going to be.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And it used to be that you know, the women will, if they, you know, they wouldn't imagine the Royal Rumble, which meant that they would get a main event, and that hasn't been happening in the last couple of years.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And with the show being and thoughty next year, I absolutely don't see that happening.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, it seems like it'll be a while before it happens again, we may get another evolution show before we get another women's match made of

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[SPEAKER_01]: So, one of the topics that we're going to talk about today is about women wrestling gear and they're ring-attire on how they prevent themselves, which has definitely evolved obviously so it's the early days of wrestling, but even since just the 90s and the 2000s, how much that it has evolved.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And so, what do you think women's wrestling gear represent in modern wrestling?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you know, it's funny I, right before I jumped on this podcast with you, I actually interviewed Mackenzie Mitchell.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I was finding out with a book about wrestling gear.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And this is for a piece that we will talk about soon.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So I won't spoil it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, we, yeah, and we just kind of had a chat about like that, the evolution of women's wrestling gear.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, as you said, like in the the 90s and the early 2000s, like wrestling gear wasn't really a thing for women.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you had a few women like, you know, Trish Stratus and stuff like that, who kind of did have the whole gear, but oftentimes it was like straight where talking about later, who does have, you know, an identifiable kind of look that she really.

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[SPEAKER_00]: was able to harness streetwear and fashion into her look.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But you know, often you just have like women wrestling in bikinis or like random clothes that you could buy at the mall.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like it didn't seem to be like as much of a cottage industry as it is now.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And to give me what was the, what was the, the, the second part of your question, which is, what do you think it represents in modern breath like now the the gear and how much like how much of is there, you know, their person or their identities or the character there or even how it incorporates their character.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, well, and that's what I spoke about with McKenzie.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, we were saying sort of wrestling gear now is part of the character.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It is the first kind of thing that people see along with especially for the women here and make up and stuff like that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It's a lot more intentional now.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I think that it was back in the day when, you know,

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[SPEAKER_00]: like women's matches were like 30 seconds, a couple of minutes, sometimes they are now too, but that's a separate thing.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But you know, but now like it's real kind of utilitarian,

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[SPEAKER_00]: gear that's purposeful that looks like it's made specifically, not only for that wrestler in their character, but like for being physical in the ring, you know, instead of just some random outfit that could fall apart, you know, break the slightest power slam or whatever.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and like there's a wrestling wine down, which is a podcast here at Lowe has been, you know, on our show before and she kind of that's one of the things that they focus on was kind of like the fashion thing is she was just thought she posted a Charlotte gear from SmackDown last Friday and it was like she had her hair pulled back so that you could kind of see like it had the top half of the top was like covered like the entire outfit was covered in rhinestones and was just like a random SmackDown on a Friday night like and she was talking about how Charlotte always makes it feel like an event.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Like it's she likes some character some wrestlers will make their gear feel like it's not just a random snack down on the Friday night and whatever city like she actually puts like thought and effort into and to this gear and so She's obviously someone we think about.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So she's because she comes out the robes like her father, but she also has the giant.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And she always seems to really put a lot of thought into it and then of course you have people like Bianca Belair who makes her own year sometimes makes her husband's year and so and then she makes her own outfits and just to have that kind of and she's talked about like staying up like hours before a big paper view match that she was putting her her her outfit together at the last minute and just the dedication that these women now have for their gear.

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[SPEAKER_01]: like we are we are talking about how you know obviously this weekend or at the Royal Normal is obviously in Saudi Arabia and that the very first one is that's only happened in 2019 so it's fairly recent and it was Natalia versus Lacey Evans.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They're wearing t-shirts over there clothes or their gear and it's just you know bulky and just was really just I think

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[SPEAKER_01]: women aren't supposed to be wrestling in this country because look at the way like it looks like they just threw on some t-shirts and it's just very especially when you see them maybe the week before in the U.S. and they're wearing their normal gear which obviously it shows more skin.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It's more probably easier for them to move in.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure wrestling and what they were wearing was probably uncomfortable.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So, can you talk a little bit about how now they, because they've obviously their gear more women have been wrestling inside.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So, still filled with a fit with the cultural and maybe you know, religious norms, but also still have their own identity.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So, can you talk about just even from 2019 to what we're seeing now with their gear?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, for sure.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, you know, those first few matches in Saudi Arabia were stark compared to what the women are wearing now.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I like, and I'll be honest, I haven't, and I think this is probably the case with a lot of progressive wrestling fans.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't watched any of the Saudi Arabian shows.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So this is just going off clips of online and stuff.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I will, I will watch the

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[SPEAKER_00]: reasons, but I don't think I think I remember seeing a clip of Naomi versus Bailey, I think which might have been like the second women's match there and still they had to wear the oversized t-shirts.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And I remember it actually impacting their performance because they're like knees and things we're getting caught in

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[SPEAKER_00]: the t-shirts.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, it's not only like a modesty slash women's rights issue, it's a, you know, safety and performance issue.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, it makes sense that

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[SPEAKER_00]: from that, just from that aspect that they would now be wearing proper, customized modest gear that covers their whole body.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, essentially body suits, right?

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[SPEAKER_00]: And yes, I don't agree with that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I don't agree with them.

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[SPEAKER_00]: wrestling in Saudi Arabia, because of the human rights abuses, not only women's rights, but queer rights forced labor.

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[SPEAKER_00]: There's been that viral image of the temporary stadium for Royal Rumble erected in three weeks, and let's, how did they do that?

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[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, all of those things and the fact that they continue that WWE continued with their show like a week after Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, all of that is puts a really bad taste in wrestling fans mouths, I think, to put it mildly.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, if we can put all of that aside,

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[SPEAKER_00]: and just look at the wrestling gear in a vacuum.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I guess it's interesting to see some of the ideas that the women's wrestlers are coming up with for their gear, for Saudi Arabia, like one I really, really liked was Liv Morgan's Britney Spears.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Oops, I get it again, inspired red.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so yeah.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And that was one that really stands out to me.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And but like I said, I haven't,

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[SPEAKER_00]: watched any of those matches.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't have like a encyclopedic knowledge of the artwork that suits.

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[SPEAKER_00]: We talked, I talked with Mackenzie Mitchell and actually had a copy of her book that I read last night and another one that was quite interesting was Becky Lynch did like a Tuxedo inspired one which was kind of cool and kind of playing with that

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[SPEAKER_00]: gendered, you know, she she's the man, men, you know, she's forced to cover up in Saudi Arabia.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So she's going to like spin that back and do like a men's wear inspired cat suit.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So that is interesting, just in a nutshell, or in a vacuum as I said, but, um,

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there's a lot we can talk about, um, that of course, from other aspects with, yes, the the gear that they're forced to wear.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, because it definitely, and I think one of the other ones I was thinking about was like, Naya Jacks, I think had some gear that like,

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[SPEAKER_01]: because she already had, it's just, I forget where I was going.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But Naya Jackson was somebody that stood out, I think, with the full body suit and to see.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And then, so this week, it's that we normally only see a handful of women in these matters in Saudi Arabia.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And this week, and we're going to see 30 women who will be coming out in

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[SPEAKER_01]: gear, and how much of you do, because warrior rumble is such it, you know, is typically seen as one of the big four paper views of the year, even though it's in sunny area, do you feel like the women will try to have like.

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[SPEAKER_01]: try to incorporate gear that you know fits their personalities and their personas or characters and off the meat like the you know those obviously the standards that they have to wear there do you think or do you think they'll just kind of wear just generic like maybe solid prints or just you know kind of taking the personality out of energy you see that all you know maybe all 30 women just kind of go out there and put as much personality in it as they can.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, I think the latter, especially, like, as you said, this is a big for pay per view, and I feel like it will sort of be a dress rehearsal partner for WrestleMania next year.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So they are going to go all out.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But that kind of bigs the question, what's the hidden cost here?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what?

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[SPEAKER_00]: When you know when the real rumble is announced to be in Saudi Arabia what like a year or two ago that was the first thing that popped into my head because I'd kind of been thinking about this.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And then I was like okay so it's 30 women that's like the whole roster right so so what.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like what cost does this have on a basic level?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Sure, like these days, as we were kind of talking about, like everyone has custom gear for like every show basically.

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[SPEAKER_00]: That's not a cheap part of the job.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, it kind of got me thinking, all right, like just it's, it's,

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[SPEAKER_00]: literally more fabric for the women.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, this is the men who have never had to be covered, despite from my understanding Saudi Arabian modesty laws.

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[SPEAKER_00]: apply to men as well.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, sure.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But they've, you know, men just wear their regular jocks and call it a day.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, so, so that's, that's really what inspired me to, to write this article that, that I'll be having coming out over the weekend for the articles of interest, um, Substack.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I don't know.

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[SPEAKER_00]: your listeners are familiar with the podcast that's related to that sub-stack, but it's hosted by April Truffle minutes, quite a popular podcast about just like hidden histories of fashion, basically.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's a very good podcast, so if you haven't listened to it, I would encourage everyone to check it out.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, so I, you know, reached out to a bunch of wrestlers,

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[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, not currently contracted to WWE because we know they're not going to talk about that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But I was like working at women who were previously with WWE who have previously wrestled in Saudi Arabia.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So people like Shane Abaisler, Indy Hartwell, just a couple of the top my head.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I think they were nine in total.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I reached out to all of them.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I heard back from none of them,

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[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I was really interested to be like, okay, so like are there contracts but are the women's contracts?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Is there like a gear like stipend or regulation in their contract for the extra cost that this cost and gear is costing them yeah my I guess would be no.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, but you know that's that's something that we have to look at because like on one one hand they're using the like you know oh women equal now they can wrestling Saudi Arabia like you know.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, well, yeah, what's the, like, are they actually like getting,

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[SPEAKER_00]: compensated for, right, operating at a law, specifically, right.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and not all 30 women who are in this royal rumble are at the level of a Becky Lynch or a Charlotte Flair or even an Alexa Bliss who can maybe afford gear a little bit easier than maybe someone on who's coming up from NXT.

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[SPEAKER_01]: who is on a lower tier of salary that they may not, you know, that they may not have the funds to go towards this or that how much is that going to blow like an entire paycheck just to try to get, you know, gear that they can wear in the Royal Rumble, which, and again, this is a Royal Rumble match.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So not, you know, sometimes we're lucky in one or two women will be in there for like,

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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, 45 minutes or so, but most of them are only going to be in there for two to three minutes.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And so, that's another thing.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They're spending all this money on this gear and they're going to be in the match for just a couple of minutes or maybe even 30 seconds.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And they're having to, and they're not in, are they being compensated for it, which, like you said, you know, I guess there's no, they probably are not.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It's probably.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, they may have it a paper.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure they'll get their normal paper view appearance to be, but like, how, like I said, is that gonna offset the cost that it took to get that gear and to get specialized gear?

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[SPEAKER_01]: And like I said, not only is it gear that they have to look good in, but it's something gear that they have to be able to wrestle in and to, so they don't get caught in the ropes or in shirts and things like that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And so, and you want to have, I'm sure as a wrestler, they want to have that identity

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[SPEAKER_01]: but also like it's got to be affordable and it's got to be with in such strict guidelines that they make sure that they don't do anything that would be deemed offensive or get them in trouble.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah it definitely is a I think that's it's a

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[SPEAKER_01]: I think maybe a lot of people may not think about asking that question, but it is a really important question for women to see how they're compensating because like you said, the men don't have to worry about that at all.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That's not something that I'm probably even across of their mind.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They may think like, hey, I'm going to get some cool gear, but

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[SPEAKER_01]: they're not going to like not going to have to spend hundreds of dollars for extra fabric like you were saying like it's it's it's it is definitely something that the conversation that I think it weren't you know a discussion because we're going to continue because WWE is going to have three paperview or three shows in Saudi Arabia this year and then of course Russell Mania next year and so that goes back to like what we were talking

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[SPEAKER_01]: personality and things like that because like you saw, you know, Royal Rumble is one of the big four, but WrestleMania, maybe not as much as it used to be.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I know like when I was really watching like as a teen in my early 20s, like WrestleMania, like they used to go all out for their gear.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Like every single wrestler up and down the card had really cool gear.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You guys have social entrances.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Like all of that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And so we've seen that they've kind of a lot of roughness have gone away from that.

26:41.159 --> 26:45.403
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe we get one or two wrestlers who have like the really cool entrance.

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[SPEAKER_01]: do you think like maybe this was kind of a test run for women?

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[SPEAKER_01]: And obviously WrestleMania is not going to have nearly as many women on the part.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So will be lucky if we get two women's matches on the card next year.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But do you think that maybe even WrestleMania will be affected by the gear aid of gear requirements

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[SPEAKER_00]: Um, not any more so than the Royal Rumble though, I think, like, as you said, it's going to, it's just just to based on the numbers in the match, like the sheer number of women that will be wrestling for the Royal Rumble, um, I think like on a grand scale, it's the Royal Rumble will have more impact not only because as you said,

27:39.738 --> 27:53.089
[SPEAKER_00]: We just, we know there's not going to be as many women's matches on the card because it's in Saudi Arabia and the last few years since women may have entered WrestleMania.

27:54.014 --> 27:54.795
[SPEAKER_00]: was it 36?

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[SPEAKER_00]: I can't even remember now.

27:59.224 --> 28:05.816
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the, the 2021 when Sasha Banks and Bianca Bellia made it into night one.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, like, that's the best we can hope for is that we're in a bit night one, which everyone knows is not as important as night two.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You're equal now, what more do you want?

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[SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to exactly, you know, have some extra them to be able to close like the fans had to make a lot of noise to even make that match be a main event match like yeah.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah exactly, we're both both.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It's like a triple threat and sarsher and right.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And young.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So I mean, it just goes to show that like.

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[SPEAKER_00]: If any if any change is really going to be made it's probably going to be from us like as fans making ways on social media or

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[SPEAKER_00]: you know, protesting whatever the case may be.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But you know, in this, in this day and age, when like WWE is like literally in the White House, I don't, and, you know, America is fascist now.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I don't think they're even gonna kid, like they don't kid.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they've always pretended to care and like that's what we kind of, it's always the, like, especially with like even the evolution that they did last year was announced like just a few weeks of the advance.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It was put on across the street from the biotech, sorry.

29:28.993 --> 29:30.255
[SPEAKER_01]: It was the same weekend.

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[SPEAKER_01]: that MLB was having their all-tharr weekend, which I know like maybe me and a couple other people only would that would appeal to all of us be out say wrestling and baseball but like there are a few of us who are across actually there but like it was very much a here damn like stop acting out for it here you go leave us a little bit of course the women delivered like they always do but you can definitely tell that like

29:55.463 --> 29:59.509
[SPEAKER_01]: It's, this is all, this show is definitely going to be, look at all that's progress we made.

29:59.549 --> 30:04.396
[SPEAKER_01]: We started out with two women wrestling in 2019 and here we are in 2026 and there's 30 women.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I can see the video packages now.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Right.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I'm sure with, you know, Stephanie McMahon being inducted into the Hall of Fame this year.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And she obviously she created women's wrestling in WWE.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure she's going to be out there, you know,

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[SPEAKER_01]: her husband, but yeah.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And so is there any other things that you want to talk?

30:30.995 --> 30:38.569
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I know, obviously we're going to direct people to your to this next deck for articles of interest.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Is there anything that, you know, that we didn't really discuss that you want to mention that are, you know, that's in this article or anything else that you want to talk about?

30:47.354 --> 30:58.114
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, no, I think we've covered it all, but yes, um, people can, um, yeah, read, read the article for, for me, um, talking about this much more eloquently.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so yeah, that you'll, you'll have all the links.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So I went for the, um, you know, talking about them now, but yeah, go to the, go to the show notes or whatever it is they say on podcasts.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I just want to say thanks for having me on.

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[SPEAKER_00]: This has been really interesting to chat about.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I think it's important to keep kind of talking about.

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[SPEAKER_00]: these things, whether that be like women's wrestling in general, or the Saudi Arabian shows, and then the intersection of them both.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, thanks again.

31:38.148 --> 31:40.811
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, thank you so much for coming on.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It was great to talk to you again.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And definitely we will make sure we post the links to that subsack so that if our viewers want to check out more.

31:49.343 --> 31:52.748
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, this is a topic that's going to keep coming up because they're doing

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[SPEAKER_01]: doing three shows in Saudi this year.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They're doing WrestleMania next year.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure they've got more shows on the docket.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I don't see their relationship even though I think it was like a 10 year deal.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure they're gonna renew it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure this is a this is maybe what then maybe we'll get some answers on like if these if these women are getting any type of stipend or reimbursement or something or maybe we can get a former wrestler who will decide the one day talk about.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, their experience and what it was like trying to get gear made and how much they were spending and all of that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: However, it is an important topic and so I am so grateful for your time.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And make sure that you do follow Scarlet on Blue Sky and also subscribe to her sub-sec as well.

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[SPEAKER_01]: She doing all kinds of cool work, not just with wrestling.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So make sure that you give her a follow and thank you again for coming on the show.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks, Sam.