The date was January 26th, 2014. The night that started it all. Batista entered the Royal Rumble at #28, soon to be followed by Rey Mysterio at #30, but no Daniel Bryan in sight. The crowd at Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh was pissed, my party was pissed, i was pissed... For that matter, the ENTIRE WWE Universe was pissed. Batista went on to win the Royal Rumble, and that was the last straw. Everyone was so tired of the constant horrific booking of Daniel Bryan.
I texted Lee Morgan, as we were both equally furious. We decided that we had SO much to talk about, we needed a podcast to cover it all. Lee and I had only known each other via Twitter over the last couple years, through both wrestling talk and sports talk, but I figured, to stand out amongst other wrestling shows, I wanted to have a female co-host. Lee is arguably the most knowledgeable wrestling fan I know, so I was glad to have her aboard before she became THE QUEEN HEEL.
3 days later, After The Bell was born. We started as a small podcast, just about an hour long, and only posted to YouTube for you all to listen.
In February, I invited Corey Pontes on as our first-ever guest, and the three of us just seemed to click instantly. Corey and I had known each other for years, and had been talking wrestling for a very long time, so it only seemed like a natural fit to have him on.
In March, thanks to the help of good friend Jason Iapicco (@DoctaStooge), After The Bell was then available for download on iTunes, and Stitcher Radio.
On April 3rd, we had our first-ever WrestleMania Preview Roundtable, featuring Corey once again, Mike Riley from 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston, Joe Guaragna, and Joel & Josue Pavon, from CausewayStreetBlog.com. The episode was a huge hit, and we got some great feedback.
At this point, After The Bell was really catching fire, and we ended up doing a WrestleMania Post Show, after the insanity that was WrestleMania 30. Our goal was to reach 200 Twitter followers by WrestleMania Sunday. (Remember that)
Later that month, on the April 23rd episode of ATB, we officially announced that Corey Pontes would be joining myself and Lee permanently. Corey brought a great dynamic with both his knowledge, and a comedic element, and I knew he was the right fit to help grow the show.
It's scary to think that just a couple months later in June, we would be ON A STAGE, in front of a packed Hurricane O'Reilly's in Boston, doing our podcast LIVE on ATBWrestling.com before WWE Money In The Bank at TD Garden. Mike Riley joined the show for the second time, and this was the first time we had talked with Mike Wendt of the Mike And Billy Show. I was able to build a small set for our table with 2 championship belts, and had a large logoed sign hanging behind us for the crowd to see.
That is the moment I truly realized that we actually had something here, and now just had to push the shit out of it on social media, on ATBWrestling.com, and through friends.
Thanks to the power of Twitter, we began growing fans at a rapid rate, and the conversation online DURING our live shows made doing them that much more fun. There's truly nothing like seeing tweets pop up on your computer of people all around the world commenting on what you're saying AS YOU'RE SAYING IT.
That brings us to SummerSlam season.
On our SummerSlam Preview Show, we introduced our fans to dear friends of the show, Jason and Liam of the New Age Insiders. Jason and Liam have been an integral part of our success, as via Twitter and our shows, we were able to turn fans of theirs, into fans of ours as well. With the cross-promotion they've given us, and vice a versa, I can never thank them enough.
Mike Wendt also joined us for this show, and the promotion on his end as well has been incredible. Since that SummerSlam Show, we've had the New Age Insiders on for every PPV prediction show, as our fans seem to enjoy the dynamic of all of us together. The conversation on Twitter during these shows, and especially during Monday Night RAW is mind-blowing, and it makes doing these shows truly worth every minute.
As I sit here on New Year's Eve in 2014 writing this, we have over 100 subscribers on iTunes, dozens of you tuning in LIVE for every show, over 100 Facebook likes, and most important of all, 1,450 followers on Twitter. If you had told me back on January 29th, when episode 1 was launched, that 11 months later, we'd actually have a fan base, cool t-shirts, and around 1,500 people that actually care for what we have to say, I'd have told you that you're more crazy than Ultimate Warrior.
2014 was an amazing year for myself, Lee, and Corey, as we continue to watch the After The Bell Wrestling brand grow. We have some very cool plans in the works for 2015, so stay tuned!
I am giving you my heartfelt thanks. You guys are the best. Happy New Year.
-Bill Neville
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