TLF Special Announcement: The Summer of Lapsed

<v Speaker 1>On July twenty first, nineteen forty eight, twenty two year
<v Speaker 1>old Vern Ganna Yes stepped off the SS America along
<v Speaker 1>with the rest of the United States Olympic Wrestling team
<v Speaker 1>in Southampton, England. Destination London, Wembley Stadium to be exact,
<v Speaker 1>Yes and the nineteen forty eight Olympic Games Spectacular.
<v Speaker 2>The United States of America the massed ranks representing the
<v Speaker 2>country's greatest Olympic team. Finally, as hosts came Great Britains,
<v Speaker 2>and the gathering of fifty eight countries was complete.
<v Speaker 1>A journey from Minnesota to London that year served as
<v Speaker 1>a symbol, if there ever was one, that Vern had
<v Speaker 1>arrived in a summer not to be forgotten. Oh yes, boss,
<v Speaker 1>I think it's time for us to follow in Vern's footsteps.
<v Speaker 1>I mean it's been it's been a long time coming.
<v Speaker 1>This summer is the summer of lapsed. It s us
<v Speaker 1>summer of lapsed. But this won't be the Olympics, No,
<v Speaker 1>because these ain't no games.
<v Speaker 3>Brother.
<v Speaker 1>First weekend in August, WWE, of course, brings the biggest
<v Speaker 1>party of the summer, a two night Summer Slam to
<v Speaker 1>US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, and sure We'll be there
<v Speaker 1>watching through lapsed colored glasses, Yes, but where will the
<v Speaker 1>real fans be that weekend? That's right, the sight of
<v Speaker 1>the first Monday Nitro and Postumania and the nostalgic jumbo
<v Speaker 1>beating commercial heart of a state once governed by Jesse Ventura,
<v Speaker 1>and that weekend side of not the Lapsed Fan Live
<v Speaker 1>necessarily call it the Lapsed fam a unique intimate get
<v Speaker 1>together with your co chairs, part live show, part meet
<v Speaker 1>in great, part pilgrimage, as we gather between nights one
<v Speaker 1>and two of Summer Slam and Vern's back yard to
<v Speaker 1>take our nine Oh yes, all right, and this is
<v Speaker 1>going to be a happening, to say the very least,
<v Speaker 1>with plan special guests to help us see the history
<v Speaker 1>in and around Nitro, episode one and everything else Lapsed
<v Speaker 1>fans love about Mini from Vern's Lake Minnetonka mants to
<v Speaker 1>the Boxing and Wrestling Club, Ring Ring Wrestling Office, to
<v Speaker 1>the sets of nineteen seventy four's The Wrestler, to the
<v Speaker 1>Ventura campaign. Huh.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, listen, we've been we've been talking about Minnesota,
<v Speaker 3>and we've been talking about going to Minnesota for such
<v Speaker 3>a long time, and you know, there's you know, we
<v Speaker 3>were hoping WrestleMania was going to be there so we
<v Speaker 3>could go there then, but well fuck it, let's just
<v Speaker 3>do it. Let's just do it for Summer Slam instead.
<v Speaker 3>They're gonna do that. Fine, we'll be there. We're gonna,
<v Speaker 3>We're gonna, We're gonna hit Mini.
<v Speaker 1>It'll be a lapsed pilgrimage that like Mary Ganya's lamb chops. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>just hits different and then well there's mores.
<v Speaker 3>How could an Englishman refuse?
<v Speaker 1>Just as Mike Bullard and Billy Taylor further forged the
<v Speaker 1>Mini UK connection in the Wrestler, so must we all.
<v Speaker 1>In weekend from AEW, TLF comes.
<v Speaker 3>To London, England, my hometown.
<v Speaker 1>Our very first ever and most likely only live show
<v Speaker 1>outside of the United States. Yes, TLF live in London
<v Speaker 1>one night only two. That's the Friday night, the Friday
<v Speaker 1>night before aw all in August twenty eighth, eight thirty
<v Speaker 1>pm Local time Downstairs at the Dome is the venue
<v Speaker 1>in the heart of Tufnell Park in North London. Tickets
<v Speaker 1>available now at Domelndon dot co dot UK. That's d
<v Speaker 1>O m E London dot co dot UK. We've been
<v Speaker 1>asked forever to do this. Yes, never thought it would happen,
<v Speaker 1>I know, but this just clicked into place. Like everything
<v Speaker 1>we've done from the very beginning here at TLF, it's
<v Speaker 1>all about laps, their dippity, and I'll tell you you
<v Speaker 1>know what, The royal family had better get some chastity
<v Speaker 1>belts on because we are coming for those asses. Oh
<v Speaker 1>my god, whatever's left of it by the time we
<v Speaker 1>get there. UK EU fans, Yes, this is your chance.
<v Speaker 1>No excuses join us. You might ask yourself. It's not
<v Speaker 1>real though, is it?
<v Speaker 3>Yes?
<v Speaker 1>Tis you might?
<v Speaker 3>You might? You might be better off watching an episode
<v Speaker 3>of EastEnders.
<v Speaker 1>And tickets will be limited, so again Domelndon dot co
<v Speaker 1>dot uk. Scroll down the calendar they have in the
<v Speaker 1>website to August twenty eighth and convert one more time
<v Speaker 1>for your co chairs. And if you do buy tickets,
<v Speaker 1>be sure to email us at the Lapsed Fan at
<v Speaker 1>gmail dot com with proof of purchase and you'll get
<v Speaker 1>a shout out on these airwaves. Nothing excites us more
<v Speaker 1>than to hear in your own words why you bought
<v Speaker 1>the tickets. Of course, you know what, don't be shy
<v Speaker 1>about emailing us audio clips. You can just record one
<v Speaker 1>on your phone explaining why you're making the track to
<v Speaker 1>see us in London, and we might share those as well.
<v Speaker 1>We'll be playing all the hits with your favorite lapsed riffs,
<v Speaker 1>bromides some may say, and characters and to give this
<v Speaker 1>trek to London as much local flavor as possible. We're
<v Speaker 1>thrilled to be partnering with Kenny Macintosh and the fine
<v Speaker 1>folks at Inside the Ropes. For years has been doing
<v Speaker 1>successful evenings with style interview of ends with many of
<v Speaker 1>wrestling's most interesting characters on stages across the UK. Kenny
<v Speaker 1>sort of liked the James Lipton of wrestling in some ways.
<v Speaker 1>He's interviewed them all on stage, from Brett to Sean,
<v Speaker 1>to Foley, to Hayman, to Jericho to Goldberg to Sting
<v Speaker 1>and fact just hosted Kevin Ash on the very same
<v Speaker 1>stage that TLF will be taking over on August twenty eight.
<v Speaker 1>But Kenny's never faced a challenge like this. No, it's
<v Speaker 1>part of LAPS five, It's part of a Lapsed Fan
<v Speaker 1>Live in London, one night only two. Kenny has agreed
<v Speaker 1>to sit down and probe the rogues gallery of lapsed characters,
<v Speaker 1>many from beyond the grave, including but not limited to,
<v Speaker 1>lapsed Vince lapsed, Hogan laps, Davy laps, Nash lapsed, Funk laps,
<v Speaker 1>Jesse laps, Dusty lapsed, Barnett, lapsed Fritz, and yes, to
<v Speaker 1>bring it all full circle, lapsed vern. As Kenny put
<v Speaker 1>it when I was talking to him recently, as it
<v Speaker 1>sunk in what we were asking him to do, quote,
<v Speaker 1>I can go up there and interview the ghost of
<v Speaker 1>Hulk Hogan or whatever. Yes, Kenny, Yes you can, Yes,
<v Speaker 1>you can. Just be ready for the challenge. Yes, because
<v Speaker 1>unlike the wrestlers you've interviewed in the past on stage,
<v Speaker 1>TLF characters traffic in the truth, the truth that's hidden
<v Speaker 1>in plain sight.
<v Speaker 3>And they they they traffic and they traveling and a
<v Speaker 3>lot of and a lot of things. All right, fine,
<v Speaker 3>so be fore warned. This TLF plus Inside the Ropes
<v Speaker 3>collab is likely to bring a new wave of demand
<v Speaker 3>for tickets from Inside the Ropes well earned fan base,
<v Speaker 3>and I'm sure many of them have no idea what
<v Speaker 3>they'll be in for it downstairs.
<v Speaker 1>In the town.
<v Speaker 3>Absolutely not, absolutely not.
<v Speaker 1>We're ready to baptize them in the Church of lapsed, right, boss.
<v Speaker 3>Oh, listen, all are welcome.
<v Speaker 1>Time for some reverse colonialization.
<v Speaker 3>Perhaps listen, it's about time.
<v Speaker 1>And that's not all boss. I don't know if you're aware,
<v Speaker 1>but costs a lot more money to get over to
<v Speaker 1>London and give the people what they need than it
<v Speaker 1>does to just drive over to Times Square for an afternoon,
<v Speaker 1>as we did last summer.
<v Speaker 3>That's what I've been told.
<v Speaker 1>But we feel this is it the chance to go
<v Speaker 1>all in on an insane August brother. But as we
<v Speaker 1>pencil out margins, like Mark Shapiro taught us to do
<v Speaker 1>right a t K Yes, yes, indeed, we thought, how
<v Speaker 1>can we up the any from a P and L perspective?
<v Speaker 1>TKO teaches us go where the guaranteed site fees are. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>to only go where you're guaranteed to be in the black,
<v Speaker 1>regardless of how many tickets you sell. And yes we'll
<v Speaker 1>sell them all. But let's not shirk our fiduciary duty here.
<v Speaker 1>We've been taught it would be downright negligent to turn
<v Speaker 1>down Saudi guarantees just because their oil infrastructure is being
<v Speaker 1>bombed every day, absolutely because we might get held hostage
<v Speaker 1>on the tarmac, or because Huthy rebels are launching missiles
<v Speaker 1>towards Saudi cities or because people might die? How can
<v Speaker 1>we be sure we touch down in jolly old England,
<v Speaker 1>not in the red, and still manage a highly necessary
<v Speaker 1>pilgrimage to Wembley itself. Announcing here the return of the
<v Speaker 1>pre COVID sit with your co chairs sweepstakes for adw
<v Speaker 1>all in. Yes, we're buying three tickets right next to
<v Speaker 1>each other. Yes, one for me, one for JP. Will
<v Speaker 1>the third be yours? Are you keen mate? Are you
<v Speaker 1>all in lapsed style? I mean, can you handle it?
<v Speaker 1>We've done this once before for WrestleMania and it was
<v Speaker 1>a smashing success. Shout out to Tom in Australia if
<v Speaker 1>you're still out there, and we were going to keep
<v Speaker 1>it going right but COVID canceled Mania that year. We
<v Speaker 1>were going to do it and it just never made
<v Speaker 1>total sense for us to bring it back until now.
<v Speaker 1>We're willing to wager that there's a mysterious benefactor out
<v Speaker 1>there that will cap this weekend in this summer brilliantly
<v Speaker 1>for the lapsed fan. So in addition to our live
<v Speaker 1>show Friday n Ed in London, watch soon for an
<v Speaker 1>eBay auction that will give you your chance to bid
<v Speaker 1>on a seat next to the co chairs in Wembley.
<v Speaker 1>Let us together hear the echoes of Davy on crack
<v Speaker 1>phoning Brett on the eve of SummerSlam, and the jubilation
<v Speaker 1>as he sat down on Brett's sunset flip, creating a
<v Speaker 1>lasting memory that, thirty three years later beckons us to
<v Speaker 1>answer some subtle but powerful call from across the ocean. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>the memory that so many people remember, but probably not Davy, right,
<v Speaker 1>So let's do our partrobably never remember that and likewise
<v Speaker 1>from Minneapolis. Turns out, getting space in mall of America
<v Speaker 1>ain't cheap, folks, and this being the first Lapsed Fham event,
<v Speaker 1>and our desire to make this something special and home style,
<v Speaker 1>as Verne would appreciate, we're not necessarily putting public tickets
<v Speaker 1>on sale for this thing. Rather, we ask that you
<v Speaker 1>get on the list, so to speak, by sending fifty
<v Speaker 1>US dollars to us via PayPal the Lapsed Fan at
<v Speaker 1>gmail dot com. Just type that email address into PayPal
<v Speaker 1>and send include a message if you could, listing your
<v Speaker 1>name and email address, and we'll be in touch on
<v Speaker 1>the specifics of when and where to be that weekend.
<v Speaker 1>Who knows there might even be more to it than.
<v Speaker 3>Mall of America.
<v Speaker 1>And sorry, not sorry if fifty dollars sounds deep, But
<v Speaker 1>unlike other events we've done, in this case, there isn't,
<v Speaker 1>ironically from Minnesota, a third party footing the bill. Yeah, hey,
<v Speaker 1>for facilities, operation, and equipment. I believe it in a
<v Speaker 1>third overall, Yeah, not in this game. It's all on
<v Speaker 1>us somehow foot the bill for facilities, operation, equipment, insurance,
<v Speaker 1>everything else. So we're trying to make it pencil out.
<v Speaker 1>We're going to Minneapolis, as you've already said, not because
<v Speaker 1>we want to stuff our pockets, but because we got
<v Speaker 1>our hearts set on MANI when the city was expected
<v Speaker 1>to host wrestle Mania forty one ye and when ww
<v Speaker 1>yanked that away, like so many, we said fuck Vegas
<v Speaker 1>and haven't gone here with Mania since and probably won't again.
<v Speaker 1>And they're feeling that this year. They're feeling the ramifications
<v Speaker 1>of precisely what we forecasted. We promise, okay and many
<v Speaker 1>it will be a premium live experience, Yes it will.
<v Speaker 1>So if you're so inclined, please even consider giving more
<v Speaker 1>than fifty to the Minneapolis effort, Because there are so
<v Speaker 1>many things we could do for this, this unique type
<v Speaker 1>of event. None of them, of course, are free. And
<v Speaker 1>the more you put in the kiddy, the wider the
<v Speaker 1>scope our imagination becomes. So there you have it, the
<v Speaker 1>summer of lapsed and maybe the last time we fly
<v Speaker 1>to fans. Things probably won't line up this perfectly for us.
<v Speaker 3>Ever.
<v Speaker 1>Again, we've talked about the torch for years, haven't we, Boss. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>indeed he at the Olympic torch, or hul Cogan's torch,
<v Speaker 1>or the pro wrestling torch. So is Mars torch for
<v Speaker 1>that matter. So as Verne and the rest of his
<v Speaker 1>compatriots did in nineteen forty eight, let us journey from
<v Speaker 1>Minnie to London this summer and see to it that
<v Speaker 1>the torch remains forever lit, no matter where it may pass.
<v Speaker 1>From there,