Five Questions With... Jacob Godwin from 4 Corners Radio

After last week's interview with former ROH wrestler Jon Davis, this week we speak to another on of our friends from 4 Corners Radio, Jacob Godwin.


Name: Jacob
Age: 28
Hometown:  Pensacola, Florida, USA.
Known For: wrestling jokes usually at Cena, Sheamus, Bo Dallas, and TNA's expense.

1. When did you first get into wrestling and what was the drew you to the sport?

I have always been into wrestling. Some of my earliest memories deal with wrestling. I remember being four years old and upsetting my grandmother, because I would swivel my hips like Rick Rude. She's very religious, and didn't like it one bit.

2. We've chatted to some of your co-hosts from 4CR before, so what do you feel you each bring to the team?

I think we've got a solid crew at 4CR. We each bring something to the table. Martin is a walking encyclopedia of wrestling knowledge. The amount of knowledge that is in his head is crazy. Jimmo has been doing a lot of stuff on British wrestling and really getting me into the product lately. Ant is our mission, "Have fun with wrestling" personified. His tweets, and his rants on the Raw Roundtable leaves me rolling. The same goes for Billy, in the age of snark, it's good to hear a voice that doesn't look for something to complain with every segment (except TNA, but it's TNA).  Billy also was an NWA guy, and though I'm a few years to young to be around for its heyday, I find myself watching stuff online from that era a lot. Sam and Murray are the kings of the Indies. I've been introduced to so much fun stuff, and its mostly through them. Murray also has a really fun blog on Chikara. It's really informative if you want to learn more about that promotion. Nick's Royal Ramble does a great job of summing the week up. I know I mentioned about having fun with wrestling, but every so often, you really have to get out there and vent, when they just miss something, and no one does that better than Justin.
That being said I haven't really found my spot in the group. I like looking back on title lineages, and the product as a whole, rather than focusing on little things. I'm also very active on twitter during Raw live, and other shows when I watch them. I enjoy a wide range of wrestling product, and even more so since I joined this group. I haven't just found friends to discuss wrestling with, I feel like I've found a wrestling family.

3. What's your opinion of the current wrestling product on television from various promotions and how do you think this compares to different eras from the past? 

I'll focus on just the big two here as they're the ones I've watched the longest. My indy knowledge is minimal, most of it coming from comp DVD's and Youtube.

I was just as loud as anyone on the internet after Wrestlemania this year complaining about the event, but now I feel that WWE is on the beginning of their next great era. I've never been one to want them to bring past eras back, because we have to evolve. That being said, I believe its time to let the part timers go. I for one don't care to see Brock Lesnar, The Rock,  and HHH wrestle each other or anyone else again. They have the talent to put on a great event without bringing in big names from the past. It's time to focus on the present and the future.

The same can be said about TNA. There was a time that I enjoyed this product more than the WWE, but that is no longer the case. 90 percent of their roster are 10+ year veterans, and their main event guys have been wrestling over 20. This is not going to keep you in business. I've been a Sting fan all my life, but the only way I've been able to stay that way is by largely ignoring these last few years. I more than anyone welcome his retirement. I'm not saying they need to switch focus on Gunner vs Crimson, because that would be a disaster, but I don't even feel like they have a solid game plan going forward. I for one to do not look forward to the Jeff Hardy/Bully Ray 1,000.

4. What are your Top Three matches of all time and why?

You had to ask. This is going to be so hard. I'm just going to say that on any given day these can be completely different, and they are in no particular order.

1. Savage/Steamboat Wrestlemania III (okay that's always number one)

2. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles (TNA: Unbreakable 2005)

3.Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid 4/21/1983

5. Where can our readers find your work and what have you got coming up?

You can find me on twitter at @droppingbows ,and on 4crwrestling.com. I'm hoping to get back into writing regularly. I have good ideas. I know this because normally by the time I form them into something, the article is out there written by someone else, not complaining just got to get faster on them.

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Across The Pond Wrestling would like to thank Jacob for this great interview.

Next Time:

Five Questions With... Billy Carpenter from 4 Corners Radio

After last week's interview with Richard Penaluna from Calling Spots, it's time to speak to one of our friends from 4 Corners Radio as Billy Carpenter gives us his Five Questions.


Name: Billy Carpenter
Age: 30
Hometown: I'm a rolling stone.
Known For: Co-founder & host of '4 Corners Radio' various live shows & podcasts, as well as 4crwrestling.com


1. When did you first get into wrestling and what drew you to the sport? 

If my mother is to be believed, I've been watching since I was about 2 years old. She said I just sat there, fascinated by what was happening on the screen.  My earliest memory that I can fully recall is WWF's 'Wrestling Classic' tournament, more specifically the Dynamite Kid vs Randy Savage match. I was hooked from then on. As much as the loud characters were a drawing point, I always seemed to gravitate towards the more athletic guys.  Most of my friends growing up were Hulk Hogan fans while I was the lone 'Macho Man' fan.  I've seemingly been in love with wrestling for as long as I've been alive--I talked about it in one of my first articles that as a kid, I was kind of an introvert and times at home weren't always the best either.  So I escaped into this world all the time and even now, I can still shut my mind down for a while and just watch an old wrestling tape and get lost again. It's a big part of who I am, I guess.  Everyone that I know understands just how big of a fan I am.

2. Tell us a little about 4 Corner's Radio and how it all came about?

'4 Corners Radio' came about almost by happenstance.  I had been conversing on Twitter with my now good friend Anthony Johns, and we had kicked around the idea of doing a podcast.  The talk sort of tapered off and then one day he tweeted, "I need to do a podcast someday", and I responded back with "Let's do it". We met on Skype a few days later with Martin Dixon, Sam DiMascio & Anthony Pope and we came up with a very loose idea of what we wanted and then we just went from there.  Since mid-January, all of my free time has been spent building this brand all while having fun at the same time.  We all agreed that no matter what, we wanted to make sure that we always had fun doing 4CR shows and podcasts.  Since the first show, we've added the website (4crwrestling.com) with a small staff of contributors and we have a variety of shows for every fan--the "RAW Roundtable", "The Indy Project" which covers the news from the American independent scene, "4CRetro" which was just launched that is just a fun look at wrestling from the past, the "Saturday Freestyle" which is about any and everything and "A Hero and A Villain" that I do with 4CR co-founder Anthony Johns.  We've added a YouTube channel, Instagram, Vine & Facebook accounts since then as well and I know that we are having a blast just talking wrestling with fellow fans.

3. Which current story lines are drawing you into certain show, and which do you feel aren't quite working?

There's really not alot of storylines that are drawing me in, but there seems to be a sort of renaissance in WWE as far as re-focusing on the in-ring product.  Names like Bryan, Cesaro, Ambrose, Rollins, Ziggler and others have me very excited for the future of that company.  NXT is my favorite show to watch weekly for that reason--the future is there right now.  I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Wyatt Family on the main roster, as they are a unique act to the mainstream wrestling audience.  As a fan of New Japan, watching the rise of Kazuchika Okada over the past 1-2 years has been great.

As for stuff that I just can't get into, Aces & 8's in TNA tops the list.  It wasn't always that way--when it started, I was actually kind of excited.  But it's dragged on for so long with such minimal payoffs along the way that I've disconnected from the story. TNA has such an amazing roster of young talent and I feel that should be their focus.  Their product from 2003-2007/8 was phenomenal! I wish they'd get back to that and find their own identity.

4. What are your top three matches of all time and why?

Top 3 matches of all-time, wow! That's a very hard thing to narrow down, but I'll do my best:

     1) Wild Pegasus vs The Great Sasuke from the Super J Cup finals in 1994 is one of my earliest memories of when I discovered puro for the first time. It was so radically different than what I had been exposed to before and from there, I had a whole other side of the wrestling world to navigate.

     2) CM Punk vs John Cena from Money in the Bank 2011 was the perfect storm of storyline, atmosphere and in-ring work.  I've been watching for 27-28 years and watching this at home on PPV gave me a feeling I rarely experience while watching wrestling nowadays.

     3) This is cheating a bit, but the Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat trilogy of matches for the NWA World title in 1989 is perfection.  Every wrestling fan, no matter your level of experience or expertise, owes it to themselves to watch this series. My favorite of all-time in Flair against his greatest adversary. Flawless.

5. Where can our readers find your work and what have you got coming up? 

Our live shows can be found at blogtalkradio.com/4crwrestling. My personal Twitter account is @4CR_Billy & the Twitter for 4CR is @4CRadio. I love interacting and meeting new fans, and I'm blessed to do so on a daily basis. Our website is 4crwrestling.com, where you can find our articles, show replays, videos & more as well as links to our various social media outlets. As far as what's next for 4 Corners Radio, we'll continue being a sponsor for AIW, who puts out some of the best wrestling anywhere right now. For our content, we'll just continue evolving and perfecting what we do. The response to what we've done this far has been great, and I appreciate every single person that has tweeted us, read an article, listened to a show or anything else to support and help spread the word. We do this as fans of wrestling who just want to have fun with other fans. That's the basis of what we've done so far and what we'll continue to do in the future.

Five Questions With...Martin Dixon

After last weeks interview with J.J. Dillon, it's now time for Five Questions With... 4 Corners Radio co-host and writer of the Suicida Appraisal, Martin Dixon.

Name: Martin Dixon 

Age: 30

Hometown: Barnsley, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Known For: Talking Head on 4 Corners Radio live shows & podcasts, writer of the Suicida Appraisal series of articles, sells videogames for a living too.

1. When did you first get into wrestling and what was the drew you to the sport?

1989, Summerslam was airing on Sky TV and a young me happened upon a showing of that event, during the Ultimate Warrior/Rick Rude match. I think what struck a chord with me was the whole "good vs evil" aspect of that period of WWF, here were these superhumans battling for fame & fortune. It was the characters & story being told I was drawn to, and is something I still am drawn to watching wrestling today.

2. Tell us a little about the wrestling projects you're involved in and how they came about?

Well, I'm fortunate enough to be allowed to be part of 4 Corners Radio, where I appear on the live broadcasts of the Tuesday Raw Roundtable and the new 4CRetro podcast, where Me & Billy Carpenter reminisce about Wrestling's "good old days"and I get a chance to show off some knowledge as well as throw out a few jokes. I also write a regular column entitled The Suicida Appraisal, where I take a performer, company or event and write a workplace performance review, examining their strengths, weaknesses and what I'd like to see them do going forward.

As for how this all came about, that's a little interesting. One day when wasting time on twitter, I happened upon a backstage photo of John Cena & CM Punk backstage at an event in Japan wearing the famous Ribera Steak House Jackets & Zubaz pants combo, which was hilarious to me, I then posted that pic & it led to me getting in contact with Anthony Pope, and much Zubaz based banter. A short while after this I noticed a conversation between Pope & Billy, who was asking for submissions to his wrestling blog. I had just started writing a little videogame blog myself & thought I'd wade in too. This put me in contact with everyone else during the initial stages of what would become 4CR as we all seemed to "click" with each other. As the rest of the guys talked about doing a podcast together, I thought about joining in, however being on the opposite side of the Atlantic does have it's drawbacks, being hours ahead of everyone means I'm often doing the shows late at night, but anyone must admit a podcast where the hosts are thousands of miles apart is a hell of a gimmick.

3. What's your opinion of the current wrestling product on television from various promotions and how do you think this compares to different eras from the past?

I'm not as down on modern wrestling as most, particularly WWE, it is and always has been entertainment above all else. In recent weeks however, there have been some outstanding in ring encounters, particularly featuring Daniel Bryan who seems to have been let off the leash & is routinely having match of the night. Special mention must also go to the vast array of new talent working it's way on screen, either on the main roster or NXT, which may be the best TV WWE puts out.

I'll admit, I don't watch much TNA or RoH, but what I have seen is on the whole enjoyable from RoH, particularly the "RoH vs SCUM" feud. TNA on the other hand doesn't engage me at all, the Aces & Eights story is weak and seemingly overshadows the great stuff happening with the likes of Daniels & Kazarian on the undercard.

4. What are your Top Three matches of all time?

First must be the 1992 Royal Rumble match. I've always loved the Rumble as a spectacle, and this may be my favourite of them all. The whole thing may be a showcase for Ric Flair, but it's a masterful performance by the Nature Boy, and pretty much all the big players involved. 

Second is Goldberg vs Hollywood Hulk Hogan from the July 7th 1998 edition of WCW Monday Nitro. Not the best technical display, but a spectacle nonetheless. From a rabid Atlanta crowd, eager to see their beloved hometown hero Goldberg dethrone the despised Hogan, to the fact that this PPV calibre match was given away free on TV. This is a perfect example of everything that was right and wrong with the Monday Night Wars, this match was given away free, but the constant chase for ratings meant that PPV events were often little more than setups for the next night's episode of Raw or Nitro, this diminishing their prestige. But outside of all that, this was arguably the peak of WCW, and a match I find myself watching time & again.

Last but by no means least is Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada from this year's January 4th Wrestle Kingdom 7. I do have a huge admiration for the Japanese method of Puroresu, and as long term listeners to the podcast will know, I am a massive mark for Tanahashi-San, this match is almost the perfect "Main Event" building and building to a fascinating crescendo, with Tanahashi retaining his IWGP heavyweight championship, one of the most respected titles throughout the wrestling world.

5. Where can our readers find your work and what have you got coming up?

All of my articles and links to the live shows & podcasts can be found alongside the great work by all of our awesome staff & contributors at the home of 4CR on the web, 4crwrestling.com. The show can be followed on twitter @4CRADIO, where staff members join in a livetweet of most WWE & TNA shows, and I myself can be followed @BunnySuicida where (amongst loads of shilling) I'm always willing to join in a discussion or two. As far as the future goes, 4CR is sponsoring upcoming events by AIW (Absolutely Intense Wrestling) and conducting interviews with some of their talent, further details can be found at the website.

Corny as it may be, I'd like to take an opportunity to thank @ATPwrestling for approaching me for this interview, as someone who's only being doing this for a handful of months, the response from listeners and readers has been overwhelmingly positive, and it's moments like this that truly are an inspiration to keep going, so thanks to everyone involved.

Until we meet again readers, have fun with wrestling, because that's what it's there for.

Martin Dixon

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We'd like to thank you to Martin for a fantastic interview!

Remember to follow us on Twitter (@ATPWrestling) and like us on Facebook (Across The Pond Wrestling)